Globaphobia Revisited : Open Trade and Its Critics

Globalization continues to be a political hot button around the world. The size and intensity of protests surrounding such recent events as the 1999 Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization; the 2000 International Monetary Fund and World Bank gathering in Washington, D.C.; and the 2001 Quebec City Summit of the Americas reveal the deep angst many still harbor toward increasingly open trade.In this revised and updated version of the 1998 Brookings best seller Globaphobia, Gary Burtless and Robert Litan once again confront criticisms and fears toward free trade. The book explains in non-technical language the advantages of furthering international trade and the flaws in the arguments against globalization.Praise for Globaphobia"Clear, concise and occasionally humorous . . . this is an excellent summary of the case for globalisation and the muddled thinking that lies behind many objections to it."-The Economist"The authors of Globaphobia distinguish themselves from their peers in that, while they are ardently in favor of free trade, they do not attempt to gloss over capitalism's destructive impulses."-Foreign Policy"The line of argument is concise and clear. The positions taken by the authors on most of the issues can be described as middle-of-the-road."-KyklosGary Burtless is a senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. A former economist with the U.S. Department of Labor and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, he is the coauthor of Globaphobia: Confronting Fears about Open Trade (1998) and the coeditor of Aging Societies: The Global Dimension (1998). Robert E. Litan is vice president and director of the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution, where he also holds the Cabot Family Chair in Economics. He previously served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and as associate director of the Office of Management and Budget. He is the coauthor of Globaphobia and the coeditor of Managing Corporate and Financial Distress (2000) and Financial Markets and Development: The Crisis in Emerging Markets (1999).