I've been watching this great mini-series on television for the past several nights. It's a Star Wars meets The X-Files extravaganza!

It has a fantastic cast of characters and a great plot. The story centers on a mysterious group of powerful leaders who have a habit of meeting behind closed doors and who are believed (although falsely) to be able to over-rule laws in any country with the stroke of a pen. Fighting this group are the band of ragged forces who have put aside their past differences and have united to fight this common enemy.

There is also a town mayor apologizing for the police. There are anarchists who just can't wait for that cup of coffee and have to go through the front window of the local Starbucks. There is that French guy who hates BigMacs who decided to make Seattle's McDonalds his next victim - he couldn't have found one closer to home? There is a president trying to invite the protesters inside, (although he does sound a bit like someone who ran into an acquaintance on his way to a party, "Oh, you're invitation must have been lost in the mail.") There is the reform party presidential candidate who is trying hard to resist saying "See, I told you so," more than 50 times a day. Add confused delegates, riot gear, a couple hundred journalists, and (my personal favorite) one thousand sea turtle hats.

My popcorn's popping - it's almost time for the news!

Ok, I feel slightly bad about making light of the situation - there are high stakes all around. But, it was either this or become the 243,563rd economist to explain why Free Trade is Good - and since you are lurking around the internet looking for economics rather than for the newest video game strategy or some dating advice, I am assuming that you know the basics of comparative advantage.

We've got issues

There are myriad serious economic and social issues surrounding free trade and "globalization" in general and tons of more minor problems when it come to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The millions of dollars in lost holiday business suffered by downtown seattle are a drop in the bucket when compared to the potential gains from trade which would result from reducing barriers across countries. Any cases of excess force by the police are a mole hill when compared to the mountain of suffering by workers and children in sweatshops. And, the canisters of smoking tear gas (which make for great pictures on TV) are a fine representation of the smog choking many of the world's largest cities.

I sympathize both with the free trade side as well as with (most of) the protesters, and I believe that there is common ground to be found.

It's not about trade

Free trade is only a catalyst - it only magnifies the problems that already exits. There are two primary complaints that have cropped up at the protests: 1) free trade in general, and the WTO in particular, is harmful to the global environment, and 2) free trade is harmful to the workers of the world who are not protected by reasonable labor standards.*

[*There is also an segment that points out the free trade hurts groups of U.S. workers - which it does do in certain industries - and that it is therefore bad for the country - which is both a non-sequitor and wrong. The obvious gains from trade to consumers and the fact that workers in other countries benefit tend to make this a very dubious and mostly nationalistic point of view.]

The real "problem" then is not free trade. For the environment, the problem is relatively loose environmental regulations. For the workers, the problem is relatively loose labor laws. Free trade makes these underlying problems worse since it increases production, but trade is not the underlying problem. Free trade is just one possible tool that environmental and labor groups can use to try to affect change in governments that might not otherwise be willing to listen.

As is usual, there seem to be only two sides to the debate portrayed in the press - the protesters are labeled "Anti-trade" while the WTO is "Free-trade".

If we could get beyond the false front of a debate on free trade, then maybe we can get to the real issues - such as whether it is appropriate to insist that other countries follow certain environmental or labor standards. And if so, what specific form should these (world?) standards take?

Well, my popcorn is ready, maybe we can talk about the real issues after the movie is over.

More Features
WTO - Got to go? Post in the Forum.

More Links

For details on the meetings and the issues discussed see the official sites:

• Seattle 1999 WTO Third Ministerial Conference.
• http://www.wto.org/

• seattlewto.net. or seattlewto.org.

• WTO: The Trade War by William Saletan.
• Enemies of the WTO - Bogus arguments against the World Trade Organization. by Paul Krugman.
• Clueless in Seattle - The Economist.

Who says there's nothing good on TV? | Posted December 3, 1999 02:36 PM by John Irons