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Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital
With the winds of trade war blowing as they have not done in decades, and Left and Right flirting with protectionism, a leading economist forcefully shows how a free and open economy is still the best way to advance the interests of working Americans.
Globalization has a bad name. Critics on the left have long attacked it for exploiting the poor and undermining labor. Today, the Right challenges globalization for tilting the field against advanced economies. Kimberly Clausing faces down the critics from both sides, demonstrating in this vivid and compelling account that open economies are a force for good, not least in helping the most vulnerable.
A leading authority on corporate taxation and an advocate of a more equal economy, Clausing agrees that Americans, especially those with middle and lower incomes, face stark economic challenges. But these problems do not require us to retreat from the global economy. On the contrary, she shows, an open economy overwhelmingly helps. International trade makes countries richer, raises living standards, benefits consumers, and brings nations together. Global capital mobility helps both borrowers and lenders. International business improves efficiency and fosters innovation. And immigration remains one of America’s greatest strengths, as newcomers play an essential role in economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Closing the door to the benefits of an open economy would cause untold damage. Instead, Clausing outlines a progressive agenda to manage globalization more effectively, presenting strategies to equip workers for a modern economy, improve tax policy, and establish a better partnership between labor and the business community.
Accessible, rigorous, and passionate, Open is the book we need to help us navigate the debates currently convulsing national and international economics and politics.
Globalization has a bad name. Critics on the left have long attacked it for exploiting the poor and undermining labor. Today, the Right challenges globalization for tilting the field against advanced economies. Kimberly Clausing faces down the critics from both sides, demonstrating in this vivid and compelling account that open economies are a force for good, not least in helping the most vulnerable.
A leading authority on corporate taxation and an advocate of a more equal economy, Clausing agrees that Americans, especially those with middle and lower incomes, face stark economic challenges. But these problems do not require us to retreat from the global economy. On the contrary, she shows, an open economy overwhelmingly helps. International trade makes countries richer, raises living standards, benefits consumers, and brings nations together. Global capital mobility helps both borrowers and lenders. International business improves efficiency and fosters innovation. And immigration remains one of America’s greatest strengths, as newcomers play an essential role in economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Closing the door to the benefits of an open economy would cause untold damage. Instead, Clausing outlines a progressive agenda to manage globalization more effectively, presenting strategies to equip workers for a modern economy, improve tax policy, and establish a better partnership between labor and the business community.
Accessible, rigorous, and passionate, Open is the book we need to help us navigate the debates currently convulsing national and international economics and politics.
360 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2019
98 people are currently reading
1073 people want to read
About the author
Kimberly Clausing
3 books9 followersKimberly Clausing is Thormund Miller and Walter Mintz Professor of Economics at Reed College. She is one of the country’s leading experts on the taxation of multinational corporations, a subject on which she has testified before Congress. Clausing has written for the New York Times and Fortune and spoken on National Public Radio.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
February 23, 2019
If I had to assign policymakers one up-to-date guide to the latest economic policy issues on taxes and trade it would be this one. Kimberly Clausing has done research in both areas and has been a leader in the economics of international corporate taxation, including profit shifting by multinationals, and it shows throughout this book. Open makes a strong, fact-based case for openness towards trade and immigration. The case ranges from explaining long-standing ideas like comparative advantage to a sensible evaluation of the latest literature, including a balanced assessment of the "China shock" literature that has found a large and persistent impact from Chinese imports but also serious methodological issues that make it a potentially less reliable guide to untangling the causal impact of changing trade policies towards China.
Open, however, is not a polemic for the status quo and in fact nearly one-third of the book is a case for policy agenda to better prepare workers for the global economy, reform the tax system, and reshape globalization more broadly. Clausing does not offer any one simple solution, but then again I don't think that there is one.
Open, however, is not a polemic for the status quo and in fact nearly one-third of the book is a case for policy agenda to better prepare workers for the global economy, reform the tax system, and reshape globalization more broadly. Clausing does not offer any one simple solution, but then again I don't think that there is one.
November 21, 2021
Not much fresh or outside-the-box analysis or framing in this defense of globalism from Clausing. Left-leaning globalists, myself included, will find much to agree on regarding both the benefits of a globalized economy and the modest policy recommendations provided to address those left behind. But I have a hard time believing that those on the populist left will be convinced by Clausing's simplified econ-101 narrative; a more vigorous and analytical argument would have been welcome.
Want to read
April 13, 2019Heard on: The Indicator - Planet Money
November 18, 2019
It seems an eon ago when acolytes of the Blairite third way were lecturing us on how even the presidency of George W. Bush had to be counted as ‘progressive’ because it stood for expanding global markets and pushing forward to ever more free trade.
The popular mood reacted to this naïve optimism firstly by rejecting the unlimited global wars that seem to be required to make the world safe for free trade, and then latterly as a consequence of the earthquake that hit the global economy in 2008 when the Great Recession began to roll over the western part of world capitalism. However, Kimberly Clausing book has arrived to remind us (or at least the US liberal audience it is primarily aiming its arguments at) of the tendentious boosterism of yesteryear which held that rising tides lift all boats, etc, etc.
Her opening chapters get things going by taking pots shots at some of the most patently ridiculous arguments coming from populism nationalism. Its disparagement of trade between nations as a zero-sum game in which the country obligated to accept imports is always a loser are an easy victory over the tosh that comes from that direction (regrettably, a portion of it being generated by the nationalistic inclined segments of the left). Addressing antipathy to NAFTA and similar agreements, she points out that these have not led to diminishing job opportunities on the northern side of the US-Mexico border, but rather a profound change in the type of employment that is being made available.
The downside to the changes wrought by globalisation – and she acknowledges these exist – come from the lack of support given to wage earners when local economies transition from assembly-line production to information and communication technology hubs. Her corrective is to urge an active role for the state, investing in life-long learning for citizens, a reform of the tax system in the direction of greater transparency, and similar nostrums redolent of the heady days of globalised optimism.
How do we begin to critique this viewpoint, given that with its concern for ordinary working people, the growth of inequality and the position of migrants, Clausing obviously wants to bolster the position of the good guys in today’s political skirmishes. But her premise for making the progressive case is that global markets are nothing more than transparent spaces in which egalitarian trade takes place. At rock bottom she shares the view of all the branches of orthodox economics which sees problems arising from political intervention in market exchanges. As a progressive she favours reforms that might improve redistribution across the economy, but nothing that might challenge the critical power relations at the heart of capitalism.
The possibility that political power might actually arise from the fundamental character of the global economy does not feature in this discussion. The role of multinational corporations in organising global trade is presented in a mainly positive light, being ‘successful’ and ‘innovative’, and achieving ‘staggering efficiencies’ across the planet.
Clausing’s lauding of multinational corporations because of their role in making ‘good’ products, spreading information, technological progress and innovation recalls nineteenth arguments in praise of colonialism. The broad sweep of historical progress is allowed to obscure the messy details of real-life imperialist exploitation. The analogy is wholly appropriate because the modern multinational corporation is the direct beneficiary of the empires of yesteryear. Indeed, the concept of imperialism needs to be rehabilitated as a critical part of our understanding of how value is assembled through the multinational firm and its allies which work to sustain the global monetary and financialised credit system.
As Clausing herself notes, international trade today is largely conducted under the aegis of multinational firms. It is their interests that are served whenever a corporation decides to shift its production and back office services to countries abroad as they seek low cost production for the goods which are sold in high price marketplaces. What is presented as a quest for efficiency would be better understood as an opportunity to exploit the lowest paid sectors of the global labour force.
The liberal ideal of trade under capitalism as an agreement between friendly nations to purchase the goods from each other which are in insufficient supply in their own territories is strictly for the birds. Global value chains extend across the world because capitalism is, as ever, on the hunt for exploitable labour and resources. Its potential for producing ‘progressive’ outcomes – eliminating inequality, forging peace between nations, honouring labour for its role in creating prosperity, and extending to immigrants and appropriate welcome – is stifled by the fact that the extraction of profit from the creative strivings of human beings is the true purpose of the system.
The popular mood reacted to this naïve optimism firstly by rejecting the unlimited global wars that seem to be required to make the world safe for free trade, and then latterly as a consequence of the earthquake that hit the global economy in 2008 when the Great Recession began to roll over the western part of world capitalism. However, Kimberly Clausing book has arrived to remind us (or at least the US liberal audience it is primarily aiming its arguments at) of the tendentious boosterism of yesteryear which held that rising tides lift all boats, etc, etc.
Her opening chapters get things going by taking pots shots at some of the most patently ridiculous arguments coming from populism nationalism. Its disparagement of trade between nations as a zero-sum game in which the country obligated to accept imports is always a loser are an easy victory over the tosh that comes from that direction (regrettably, a portion of it being generated by the nationalistic inclined segments of the left). Addressing antipathy to NAFTA and similar agreements, she points out that these have not led to diminishing job opportunities on the northern side of the US-Mexico border, but rather a profound change in the type of employment that is being made available.
The downside to the changes wrought by globalisation – and she acknowledges these exist – come from the lack of support given to wage earners when local economies transition from assembly-line production to information and communication technology hubs. Her corrective is to urge an active role for the state, investing in life-long learning for citizens, a reform of the tax system in the direction of greater transparency, and similar nostrums redolent of the heady days of globalised optimism.
How do we begin to critique this viewpoint, given that with its concern for ordinary working people, the growth of inequality and the position of migrants, Clausing obviously wants to bolster the position of the good guys in today’s political skirmishes. But her premise for making the progressive case is that global markets are nothing more than transparent spaces in which egalitarian trade takes place. At rock bottom she shares the view of all the branches of orthodox economics which sees problems arising from political intervention in market exchanges. As a progressive she favours reforms that might improve redistribution across the economy, but nothing that might challenge the critical power relations at the heart of capitalism.
The possibility that political power might actually arise from the fundamental character of the global economy does not feature in this discussion. The role of multinational corporations in organising global trade is presented in a mainly positive light, being ‘successful’ and ‘innovative’, and achieving ‘staggering efficiencies’ across the planet.
Clausing’s lauding of multinational corporations because of their role in making ‘good’ products, spreading information, technological progress and innovation recalls nineteenth arguments in praise of colonialism. The broad sweep of historical progress is allowed to obscure the messy details of real-life imperialist exploitation. The analogy is wholly appropriate because the modern multinational corporation is the direct beneficiary of the empires of yesteryear. Indeed, the concept of imperialism needs to be rehabilitated as a critical part of our understanding of how value is assembled through the multinational firm and its allies which work to sustain the global monetary and financialised credit system.
As Clausing herself notes, international trade today is largely conducted under the aegis of multinational firms. It is their interests that are served whenever a corporation decides to shift its production and back office services to countries abroad as they seek low cost production for the goods which are sold in high price marketplaces. What is presented as a quest for efficiency would be better understood as an opportunity to exploit the lowest paid sectors of the global labour force.
The liberal ideal of trade under capitalism as an agreement between friendly nations to purchase the goods from each other which are in insufficient supply in their own territories is strictly for the birds. Global value chains extend across the world because capitalism is, as ever, on the hunt for exploitable labour and resources. Its potential for producing ‘progressive’ outcomes – eliminating inequality, forging peace between nations, honouring labour for its role in creating prosperity, and extending to immigrants and appropriate welcome – is stifled by the fact that the extraction of profit from the creative strivings of human beings is the true purpose of the system.
August 11, 2019
Are you or a friend a progressive skeptical about trade? Think big multinational companies are just evil? Wall Street is just a leech on society? This is the book to challenge that perspective!
Clausing successfully uses the language of progressives to make the case for economic orthodoxy: free trade makes countries richer, multinational companies pay higher wages and innovate more, financial markets are vital to the development of countries.
All of that while recognizing the problems progressives fight for: wage stagnation, economic inequality, and climate change. The book provides bold reform to tackle those problems, while stressing that the dismantling our current liberal system of finance and trade would do more harm than good, particularly to the poorest members of society.
The book is not a praise of the current status quo. It includes daring policy prescriptions to make the US more equitable, to make big companies pay more in taxes, to fight climate change. All while recognizing that there's plenty to like of our current situation. As she says "The world is more peaceful, and less poor, than at any time in history". No storming of the Bastille is necessary.
Also, if tax policy your jam, this is a must.
Clausing successfully uses the language of progressives to make the case for economic orthodoxy: free trade makes countries richer, multinational companies pay higher wages and innovate more, financial markets are vital to the development of countries.
All of that while recognizing the problems progressives fight for: wage stagnation, economic inequality, and climate change. The book provides bold reform to tackle those problems, while stressing that the dismantling our current liberal system of finance and trade would do more harm than good, particularly to the poorest members of society.
The book is not a praise of the current status quo. It includes daring policy prescriptions to make the US more equitable, to make big companies pay more in taxes, to fight climate change. All while recognizing that there's plenty to like of our current situation. As she says "The world is more peaceful, and less poor, than at any time in history". No storming of the Bastille is necessary.
Also, if tax policy your jam, this is a must.
June 6, 2020
A shame, but I really can't recommend it. It's a shame because we desperately need a new and compelling progressive argument for globalization - but the author simply repeats extremely simplified versions of old arguments. I could not spot a single new idea, or a clear articulation of values or objectives. There's nothing necessarily wrong with her policy suggestions, but they're all old hat. The author also spends a spectacular amount of paper telling us where she's going to write about various things - it reads as if she's about three chapters short of her page goal.
I would possibly recommend this for a young student who is just beginning to explore economic and trade theories. If you have spent any time reading about these issues lately - give it a pass. There will be nothing new here.
I would possibly recommend this for a young student who is just beginning to explore economic and trade theories. If you have spent any time reading about these issues lately - give it a pass. There will be nothing new here.
May 12, 2019
A progressive set of interlinking policies on trade, taxes, and labor proposed to address the challenges presented by globalization. Positive ideas for moving our economy and our society forward. Well-supported and detailed, this is an important voice in progressive policy ideas.
January 5, 2025
I agree with 98% of this book. But it reads like a very light fluff piece. Nothing groundbreaking and no rigorous analysis of challenging topics. Clausing seems to deliberately avoid the strongest of the opposing arguments which, even though I think are unpersuasive, require more of a nuanced acknowledgment of some of the downsides to "openess." Others have argued the topic far better, e.g. Martin Wolf, Bhagwati, Rodrik, Stiglitz.
June 30, 2025
This book was written during the first Trump administration. It’s a sort of academic response to the economically illiterate policy rhetoric that Trump was spewing at the time. Little did Clausing know that it would get so much worse.
It’s actually quite honestly interesting to me to read now as the section on tariffs almost reads like a manual that the current administration is following, but without regard to the economic specifics on what actually works. Trump’s focus on the trade deficit has launched a series of policies around tariffs, currency devaluation, and budget deficit changes which are all explored as part of that section in the book. If I didn’t know any better, I could see Trump’s economic “advisors” using an AI summary on trade policy that may have been trained on this book.
In any case, the book is a solid collection of up-to-date economic research on international trade, immigration, and globalization. One of the big things she argues is the following: 1) the impact of more openness (free trade, immigration etc.) has less negative impact on local employment than you think, and way less than technology disruption 2) the positive gains of more openness are worth it especially if we can better utilize the government to distribute these economic gains more equally 3) globally both corporations and capital are not taxed evenly, or high enough, or are too sheltered, given the relative room they have to support more redistribution.
On this last point, there was a lot of really interesting research she summarizes. Particular how the structure and position of corporate profits and savings have changed over the last 50 years. While corporate and capital gains tax rates have been lowered, Clausing writes:
> … while the importance of capital and corporate profits in the economy has surged; since 2000, corporate profits are 50 percent higher as a share of national income than they were in previous decades, and the share of national income to workers as wages has fallen substantially.
Further she writes:
> As compared to 1980, corporate savings have come to constitute a much larger share of total savings. Globally, since that year, corporations’ share of total savings has increased by about thirty percentage points. This staggering increase is mirrored by a declining share of global savings in the hands of households. Why are corporations doing more of the savings? Simply put, they are earning more of national income, as the capital share of income is rising relative to the labour share of income in most countries.
Even further:
> In the United States, excess profits (above the normal rate) are now the norm in the US corporate sector. In the United States, the share of corporate earnings that represent excess profits is over 75 percent. This is not just an American phenomenon. Worldwide, the corporate sector is getting more concentrated, and large companies are dominating in terms of profits, sales, and scale. The top 10 percent of the world’s public companies earn 80 percent of the profits, and companies with more than $1 billion in revenues account for the vast majority of all global revenues and market capitalization. And because these superstar companies use less labour than typical companies, so as the dominant companies account for more of all economic activity, the labour share of income falls.
All of this is a damning indictment of the conservative position that we can’t raise corporate or capital gains tax rates. Particularly as technology disruption continues, large corporations will become more and more profitable. Despite all the hand wringing about AI making this a reality, this is *already happening* and has *been happening for the last 50 years.* Clausing correctly makes the case that reforming the tax system, both in the US and globally, is the only way to proceed forward in a global, more open age.
There’s a lot other research summarized in here, and a lot of other policy proposals as well. Not all of it was as focused or well done in my opinion as the stuff I commented on above. But still, this was a good book and a soldi antidote to the policy insanity I’m seeing down south.
It’s actually quite honestly interesting to me to read now as the section on tariffs almost reads like a manual that the current administration is following, but without regard to the economic specifics on what actually works. Trump’s focus on the trade deficit has launched a series of policies around tariffs, currency devaluation, and budget deficit changes which are all explored as part of that section in the book. If I didn’t know any better, I could see Trump’s economic “advisors” using an AI summary on trade policy that may have been trained on this book.
In any case, the book is a solid collection of up-to-date economic research on international trade, immigration, and globalization. One of the big things she argues is the following: 1) the impact of more openness (free trade, immigration etc.) has less negative impact on local employment than you think, and way less than technology disruption 2) the positive gains of more openness are worth it especially if we can better utilize the government to distribute these economic gains more equally 3) globally both corporations and capital are not taxed evenly, or high enough, or are too sheltered, given the relative room they have to support more redistribution.
On this last point, there was a lot of really interesting research she summarizes. Particular how the structure and position of corporate profits and savings have changed over the last 50 years. While corporate and capital gains tax rates have been lowered, Clausing writes:
> … while the importance of capital and corporate profits in the economy has surged; since 2000, corporate profits are 50 percent higher as a share of national income than they were in previous decades, and the share of national income to workers as wages has fallen substantially.
Further she writes:
> As compared to 1980, corporate savings have come to constitute a much larger share of total savings. Globally, since that year, corporations’ share of total savings has increased by about thirty percentage points. This staggering increase is mirrored by a declining share of global savings in the hands of households. Why are corporations doing more of the savings? Simply put, they are earning more of national income, as the capital share of income is rising relative to the labour share of income in most countries.
Even further:
> In the United States, excess profits (above the normal rate) are now the norm in the US corporate sector. In the United States, the share of corporate earnings that represent excess profits is over 75 percent. This is not just an American phenomenon. Worldwide, the corporate sector is getting more concentrated, and large companies are dominating in terms of profits, sales, and scale. The top 10 percent of the world’s public companies earn 80 percent of the profits, and companies with more than $1 billion in revenues account for the vast majority of all global revenues and market capitalization. And because these superstar companies use less labour than typical companies, so as the dominant companies account for more of all economic activity, the labour share of income falls.
All of this is a damning indictment of the conservative position that we can’t raise corporate or capital gains tax rates. Particularly as technology disruption continues, large corporations will become more and more profitable. Despite all the hand wringing about AI making this a reality, this is *already happening* and has *been happening for the last 50 years.* Clausing correctly makes the case that reforming the tax system, both in the US and globally, is the only way to proceed forward in a global, more open age.
There’s a lot other research summarized in here, and a lot of other policy proposals as well. Not all of it was as focused or well done in my opinion as the stuff I commented on above. But still, this was a good book and a soldi antidote to the policy insanity I’m seeing down south.
November 8, 2021
A decent book for anyone not already acquainted with the subject. Would be perfect for any undergrads about to take an international econ course or would have been a decent primer/refresher before I started my masters in International Trade. Could also be useful to legislators who are woefully under prepared when it comes to this subject matter. But if you are not that and have read anything else on trade, I'd skip. It's too small of a book to go deep into all the subject matters that could fill hundreds of pages on their own (trade, immigration, capital flows, tax policy, reducing political polarization), while also containing whiplash inducing sentences like Facebook actively reduces the prevalence of Fake News or that Xi Jinping supports an open trading system.
May 9, 2019
I had to read this in small sections--partially because of the need to wade carefully through the economic concepts in terms of globalization, with which I'm not super familiar, and partially because the blatant mishandling of various aspects of globalization in terms of my own country's economic policies enrages me. I think the book does a good job of presenting a fair and impartial view of the major issues facing the US economy currently, and also presents some reasonable measures for addressing those issues. I hope those reasonable measures are taken up by those in a position of power to transpose them into reality.
November 22, 2023
Clausing makes a broad argument for increased trade, stronger corporate taxation, and increased immigration that reads as a relatively simple and straightforward economics book. While the title teases some engagement with politics, she never takes it on more than superficially, and I don't think she even defines what "progressive" means to her. She plainly says that every one of her policy proposals would require a "grand bargain." It's silly to expect anything other than economics from an economics professor, but the actual economics presented here are pretty simple and well understood.
August 21, 2019
Thought-provoking and ambitious
It’s not a progressive case but a common-sense approach to making America work for everyone. Approachable analysis and policy prescriptions for those of us who dozed through economics 101.
Would liked to have seen some concrete comparisons of what the country would look like if these policies were adopted.
Also, wouldn’t a carbon tax be regressive? That issue could use more discussion.
It’s not a progressive case but a common-sense approach to making America work for everyone. Approachable analysis and policy prescriptions for those of us who dozed through economics 101.
Would liked to have seen some concrete comparisons of what the country would look like if these policies were adopted.
Also, wouldn’t a carbon tax be regressive? That issue could use more discussion.
October 14, 2019
This book clearly presents the arguments in favor of open borders and free trade, as well as the dangers of going in the opposite direction. It can be considered a good introductory-level read on the topic, and so could be used to convince people who are uncertain of the underlying concepts. On the other hand, it is rather short.
March 29, 2020
This is an excellent one-stop-shop primer for anyone looking to understand a principled, but empirically grounded, case for international trade and immigration flows. For those steeped in the issues this book can take a little while to wind itself up to the interesting arguments. But, grading this book on its own terms, it makes a good strong argument.
August 14, 2019
It says something about the moment we are in that a book such as this needs to be written at all. But, given this is where we are at, the book does a great job of reminding its readers of the good things that have already, and should continue to come, from trade, technology and immigration.
August 21, 2019
I don’t want to be to tough on this book as I generally with its diagnoses and policy proposals. For me it was pitched a bit too entry level and I was kind of skeptical of its belief that the business community would go along but not a bad read
October 19, 2019
Truly a must read for anyone in progressive politics. Professor Clausing makes a compelling case for America's involvement in the international order. Whether trade, immigration, or the free flow of capital, they are all important to America's long term success.
February 10, 2020
A little wonky in proving her case but digestible for a non- person. Suggestions for bringing equity to globalization along with leveling the field with a fair global tax and business regulation system.
April 23, 2023
Maybe the best book-length exposition of my whole economic worldview: immigration good, trade good, taxes good, redistribution good. Worth it just for the footnotes, which are a wonderful compilation of some of the most relevant studies on these topics in recent years.
July 24, 2019
Clear and concise global economics 101. Naive solutions.
March 6, 2025
Confessions of a Globalist:
This book is fantastic, and just as, if not more, relevant during the second Trump administration as it was in the first.
This book is fantastic, and just as, if not more, relevant during the second Trump administration as it was in the first.
February 13, 2021
As someone who didn't need to be convinced about the benefits of free trade or the distributive problems we're facing, I can't really say how persuasive she was - I was mostly looking at her solutions. Its not a bad book, but it lacks a lot of concreteness.
By far the strength of the book is her discussion of tax policy, where she provides a number of solid suggestions complete with alternative ideas that have been presented elsewhere. I found them hopeful, and had not fully considered many of them before reading it.
But other areas fall short of this sort of thoroughness. For instance, she frequently discusses how important robust antitrust enforcement is, but doesn't go into suggestions for how it might be made better (or whether anything should change at all, although its implied). I was left wondering, should keep our current enforcement model or move to something more regulatory, like the EU? Are we best served with our current consumer welfare standard or something else entirely? These are pressing issues in competition law and I believe they would have complimented her work here well, but they felt brushed over.
As a whole, her arguments for free trade and her focus on income inequality are important in our current climate and I hope people take them seriously. But beyond many of her tax solutions, a lot of the questions she raises still need to be answered.
By far the strength of the book is her discussion of tax policy, where she provides a number of solid suggestions complete with alternative ideas that have been presented elsewhere. I found them hopeful, and had not fully considered many of them before reading it.
But other areas fall short of this sort of thoroughness. For instance, she frequently discusses how important robust antitrust enforcement is, but doesn't go into suggestions for how it might be made better (or whether anything should change at all, although its implied). I was left wondering, should keep our current enforcement model or move to something more regulatory, like the EU? Are we best served with our current consumer welfare standard or something else entirely? These are pressing issues in competition law and I believe they would have complimented her work here well, but they felt brushed over.
As a whole, her arguments for free trade and her focus on income inequality are important in our current climate and I hope people take them seriously. But beyond many of her tax solutions, a lot of the questions she raises still need to be answered.
December 15, 2021
An important guide that explains why achieving progressive goals requires *more* growth, trade, and immigration, not less.
Favorite Fact: "In the United States, tariffs take a bite out of the after-tax incomes of the poorest 20 percent of the population three times larger, in percentage terms, than they take from the top 20 percent."
Favorite Fact: "In the United States, tariffs take a bite out of the after-tax incomes of the poorest 20 percent of the population three times larger, in percentage terms, than they take from the top 20 percent."
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews