Interesting piece by @lajohnstondr on Jack Ma’s dream to “flatten” world trade. To the extent that this means reducing the role of large multinationals in favor of “millions of goods-trading mum and pop entrepreneurs”, it is a good thing, but...
soas.ac.uk/blogs/study/co… via @@SOAS
soas.ac.uk/blogs/study/co… via @@SOAS
...the biggest problem with world trade is that frictionless trade and capital flows encourage countries to improve competitiveness by suppressing wages. In that case a “flatter” global trading system could also be one in which income inequality is made worse and in which...
...more trading among “mum and pop entrepreneurs” is their desperate response to lower wages. More than a “flatter” global trading system, what we need is one in which countries cannot undermine domestic wages and social benefits and get away with it by dumping the...
...resulting excess demand abroad. Until we resolve this problem, reducing the frictional costs of trading is likely to make things worse, not better.
