New Frontiers in Free Trade: Globalization's Future and Asia's Rising Role

By Razeen Sally

Book Overview

Razeen Sally argues forcefully that international trade policy has lost its way. Trade policy has become disconnected from 21st century business and consumer realities. The World Trade Organization and free trade agreements have outdated negotiating models and yield diminishing returns. The world's fastest growing economies are those in Asia that have embraced freer trade and global integration unilaterally, without waiting for trade negotiations. Hence, the priority should be bottom-up unilateral liberalization, with China's opening to the world economy leading the way and setting the example for others in Asia and beyond. Liberalization should now focus more on domestic regulatory barriers. The post-Doha WTO will still be important, but more as a forum for strengthening trade rules than for driving further liberalization. The biggest danger, though, is complacency and reform fatigue, which threatens to halt globalization's advance. Sally makes a vigorous case for the benefits of free trade and provides a penetrating analysis of the dangers confronting the world trading system. Inspired by the precepts of Adam Smith and David Hume, he sets out practical prescriptions for getting trade policy back on the rails as part of a refreshed agenda for freer trade and freer markets that is relevant to the rise of Asia and 21st century globalization. Informative; well-argued; and, above all, highly readable, this book is a stimulating contribution to the emerging debate on where trade policy should go in the post-Doha world.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1933995211
• ISBN13: 9781933995212
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Cato Institute
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A must for a solid understanding of today's world economy

With nearly half the world's population, it's no surprise Asia is a massive juggernaut in today's global economy. "New Frontiers in Free Trade: Globalization's Future and Asia's Rising Role" is a look at globalization and its true effect on the world's economy as a whole. Telling how Asia is slowly becoming the leading economic power in the world, a title once held by North America and Europe, Sally also discusses how the World Trade Organization has succeeded and failed in its job, and the effects of such. "New Frontiers in Free Trade" is a must for a solid understanding of today's world economy.