Samuelson on Globalization: A Comment

Andreas School of Business Working Paper

17 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2004

See all articles by Robert W. McGee

Robert W. McGee

Fayetteville State University - Department of Accounting

Date Written: October 2004

Abstract

Paul Samuelson's recent article in the Journal of Economic Perspectives (2004) started drawing attention even before it was officially published (Fingleton, 2004). His conclusions go against the weight of 200 years of trade theory in concluding that international trade can, at times, result in deadweight losses, which might lead one to conclude that he is either wrong or that he has made a brilliant new discovery. He goes on to prove his point with a series of elaborate equations containing all the Greek letters, subscripts and square roots that economists have come to expect and love. His analysis and conclusions give ammunition to the anti-globalists, many of whom have relied mostly on emotional arguments or faulty logic to support their position in the past (Mander and Goldsmith, 1996). While Samuelson does not come right out and suggest that protectionist measures are called for to provide a safety net for the losers in a Schumpeterian regime (1984), he does leave open the possibility of government intervention to cushion the adverse effects to certain segments of the domestic economy that can result from free trade. This paper disputes Samuelson's conclusions.

Keywords: Samuelson, globalization, free trade, utilitarianism

JEL Classification: A12, A13, C1, C5, D6, F01, F13, F15, K11

Suggested Citation

McGee, Robert W., Samuelson on Globalization: A Comment (October 2004). Andreas School of Business Working Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=599422 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.599422

Robert W. McGee (Contact Author)

Fayetteville State University - Department of Accounting ( email )

Fayetteville, NC 28301
United States

HOME PAGE: http://robertwmcgee.com

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