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사다리 걷어차기
장하준 지음, 형성백 옮김 / 부키 / 2004년 5월
평점 : 
구판절판
Is ‘Free Trade’ really a great idea?
(Based on Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism)
When you hear the words ‘Free Trade’, you might think that’s a great, useful and fair idea. Even though one country has an absolute advantage over most countries in the production of everything, the country, and trading nations can profit with free trade according to the theory of comparative advantage. So that, you can say it’s a revolutionary idea. However, it could be a good idea only for developed countries. If developing countries take the idea ‘Free Trade’, it could be an unfair idea compared with developed countries.
During the world war, the advanced countries of today, such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America, chose protective trade. Once, the UK banned the import of cheap Indian cotton fabrics to protect their textile industry, which produced more expensive cotton fabrics, from foreign competition. And by raising the tariff on industrial products, the UK protected other industries. The USA once chose free trade because it was forced to produce and export raw materials to Europe. However, after it became an independent and free country, the administration chose protective trade policies. Based on the policies, it tried to promote and protect its manufacturing industry. Almost all advanced countries grew their economies by promoting and protecting their manufacturing industry by minimizing the volumes of imports.
And today, most of them are arguing that all nations have to adopt the theory of ‘Free Trade’ because they no longer have to protect their industry since their industry is developed enough. Now, they can make much more money by exporting their products and their industry could have grown slack if they stick to protectionism.
Developing countries are choosing free trade policies since developed countries make them believe that they can make money with the free trade. Now, we have to think about this issue deeply. Don’t they have to promote their manufacturing industry first? Is free trade a great idea for every country including developing countries which don’t have a developed manufacturing industry yet?