A Stream of Windows – Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration, & Democracy: Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration and Democracy - Hardcover

Bhagwati, Jagdish

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262024403 ISBN 13: 9780262024402

Publisher: MIT Press, 1998

Synopsis

Jagish Bhagwati firmly believes that those who work at the frontiers of economics should also get down into the trenches of public policy in the only way they can: through advocacy. His frequent writings in newspapers and magazines are further testimony to his conviction that academics can best do public good by becoming a public nuisance. Running through his writings is the contrary voice, questioning popular positions, challenging the consensus. Bhagwati has an agenda to advance, a vision of the good society that economic policy must help to shape. The good society he has sought over the years is one whose economics embrace openness, in particular in trade and immigration, and whose politics are democratic, not just for the elite few but with the effective participation of the many, including women and minorities. This text offers a selection of the author's policy writings from the 1990s. The title, from a James Schuyler poem, suggests the fluidity of a stream, contrasted with a stagnant pool, as well as the windows the author seeks to open to bring in fresh air. The image captures the essence of the author's writings, which oppossed the demonization of Japan in the 1980s and early 1990s, and which aims to expose the folly of current U.S. policy equating free trade with free trade areas, challenge the bipartisan bashing of illegal immigrants, refute the conventional view that democracy hinders development, and other issues.

About this title

Review

-- Adrian Karatnycky, "Wall Street Journal"

" Although Mr. Bhagwati may be best known as a proponent of open trade, this volume will enhance his reputation as a proponent of open societies, in which free markets exist in a context of free human beings. . . . Anyone who reads this engaging description of the ways the world works will emerge a lot less confused and at least a little more optimistic." -- Adrian Karatnycky, "Wall Street Journal"

& quot; Although Mr. Bhagwati may be best known as a proponent of open trade, this volume will enhance his reputation as a proponent of open societies, in which free markets exist in a context of free human beings. . . . Anyone who reads this engaging description of the ways the world works will emerge a lot less confused and at least a little more optimistic.& quot; -- Adrian Karatnycky, Wall Street Journal

"Although Mr. Bhagwati may be best known as a proponent of open trade, this volume will enhance his reputation as a proponent of open societies, in which free markets exist in a context of free human beings. . . . Anyone who reads this engaging description of the ways the world works will emerge a lot less confused and at least a little more optimistic."--Adrian Karatnycky, "Wall Street Journal"

About the Author

Jagdish N. Bhagwati is University Professor of Economics, Law, and International Relations at Columbia University and former Adviser to the Director General of GATT, Arthur Dunkel. He is the author (with Arvind Panagariya) of Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262024403
• ISBN 13: 9780262024402
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 584