1st Edition

The Global Free Trade Error The Infeasibility of Ricardo�s Comparative Advantage Theory

By Ron Baiman Copyright 2017
180 Pages
by Routledge

180 Pages 23 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

180 Pages 23 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

The doctrine of "free trade" is second only to that of "free markets" in undergirding ideological support for our current global economic structures and rules. From David Ricardo’s "comparative advantage principle" to James Meade’s Neoclassical or mainstream economics proof of self-adjusting free trade equilibrium, the free trade doctrine has had a lasting and destructive hold on Neoclassical... Read more


List of figures



List of tables



Acknowledgements



1 Introduction



PART I The illogical foundations of free trade ideology



2 The infeasibility of free trade in classical theory: Ricardo’s comparative advantage parable has no solution



3 The limits of free trade in Neoclassical theory: from Heckscher-Ohlin to unequal exchange



4 Globally sustainable and balanced international trade based on exchange-rate adjustment is mathematically unstable and therefore economically infeasible



PART II The logical (and moral) foundations of unequal exchange trade theory



5 Unequal exchange without a labor theory of prices: on the need for a global Marshall Plan and solidarity trading regime



6 Unequal exchange and the rentier economy



PART III Globalization that supports human and planetary well-being



7 Toward a new political economy for the U.S.



8 There is no alternative to managed global trade



Index

Biography



Ron Baiman teaches economics in the MBA program at Benedictine University, U.S. He has written numerous academic and policy papers, served for many years on the Editorial Board of the Review of Radical Political Economics, and is the author of The Morality of Radical Economics: Ghost Curve Ideology and the Value Neutral Aspect of Neoclassical Economics, and co-author and co-editor of the Choice award winning collection: Political Economy and Contemporary Capitalism.

‘The doctrine of "free trade" is second only to that of "free markets" in undergirding ideological support for our current global economic structures and rules. The Global Free Trade Error provides a detailed analysis of these foundational models and counter-poses these to alternative Neo-Marxist "unequal exchange" models of global trade and finance.’ — www.urpe.org (February 20, 2017)