tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post6227416163933254780..comments2024-03-04T08:09:21.453-08:00Comments on Richard's Real Estate and Urban Economics Blog: Is Free Trade Good for Everyone? (Reposting, because it seems relevant right now).Richard Greenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02161226214739034402noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33399132.post-47284390770116084892016-05-30T12:59:05.735-07:002016-05-30T12:59:05.735-07:00Hi Richard, sorry it took me so long to see it, bu...Hi Richard, sorry it took me so long to see it, but this is a good post. <br /><br />A libertarian might say there is a natural right to trade, so it should not be conditioned on redistribution. But in the real world trade is a political question, so we should expect bargaining. <br /><br />After a long period of trade liberalization, trade opponents now dominate US politics. Stigler's theory of regulation might have predicted this would happen sooner, since the costs of trade are somewhat concentrated and the benefits widely dispersed. As you point out, the benefits mostly flow to the well-off, so they have managed to overcome the Stigler effect. But when a political force with natural advantages is suppressed, it sometimes breaks through suddenly and unexpectedly. <br /><br />In other words, years of free trade extremism without regard for the human costs has given us Donald Trump. David Barkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17243910374364993035noreply@blogger.com