Dunkley - Free Trade: Myth, Reality and Alternatives

A BOUT THIS B OOK

In this book, Australian economist Graham Dunkley explains and critiques the crucial concept of free trade. A policy of free trade is central to todays world-dominating globalization project. The more euphoric globalists uncritically assume that it has universal and unequivocal benefits for all people and countries. And the perpetual negotiations of the World Trade Organization are wholly based on this presumption.

Graham Dunkley shows, however, that leading economists have always been more sceptical about free trade doctrine than the dogmatic globalizers realize. There are more holes in free trade theory than its advocates grasp. And the benefits of free trade in practice are more limited and contingent than they acknowledge.

He also argues that the World Banks long-time push for export-led development is misguided. A more democratic world trading order is necessary and possible. And more interventionist, self-reliant trade policies are feasible, especially if a more holistic view of economic development goals is adopted.

An incisive and informative analysis of why free trade derails development. An indispensable road map for those seeking to hack their way out of the neoliberal thicket.

Walden Bello, Focus on the Global South; author of Deglobalization: Ideas for a New World Economy

This thought-provoking book is a valuable contribution to one of the greatest debates of our time, namely, trade and development.

Ha-Joon Chang, University of Cambridge, author of Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective

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F REE T RADE

Myth, Reality and Alternatives

GRAHAM DUNKLEY

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Free Trade was first published in 2004 by

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Copyright Graham Dunkley 2004

The right of Graham Dunkley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved.

Cover designed by Andrew Corbett
Designed and typeset in Monotype Bembo by Illuminati, Grosmont Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Cox & Wyman, Reading

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Canadian CIP data is available from the National Library of Canada

ISBN 978 1 84813 675 5

C ONTENTS

L 1ST OF T ABLES , F IGURES AND B OXES

A BBREVIATIONS U SED

In Memory of
Jennifer Gail Crawford,
19502000

Swadeshi is that spirit in us which restricts us to the use and service of our immediate surroundings to the exclusion of the more remote. Thus, I must restrict myself to my ancestral religion. If I find it defective, I should serve it by purging it of its defects. In the domain of politics I should make use of the indigenous institutions and serve them by curing them of their proved defects. In that of economics I should use only things that are produced by my immediate neighbours and serve those industries by making them efficient and complete where they might be found wanting.