A Stream of Windows: Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration, and Democracy [Paperback]

Jagdish N. Bhagwati (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 1999

Winner of the 1998 Eccles Prize for Excellence in EconomicWritingA Stream of Windows offers a selection of Jagdish Bhagwati's recentpolicy writings, in which he forcefully opposes the demonization ofJapan, challenges the bipartisan bashing of illegal immigrants,refutes the conventional view that democracy hinders development, andmuch more.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Columbia professor Jagdish Bhagwati envisions himself as part of a tradition of economists taking part in public-policy advocacy that includes such luminaries as John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and Paul Samuelson. He also firmly believes that part of the price that tenured academics pay for their job security is the obligation to speak out on the issues, "to break ranks, to cut through the fog of obfuscations that attends the politics of policymaking, to call a spade a spade, to say 'oh, bunk!' when necessary, and to propose policies and advance agendas that reflection and analysis lead one to believe is good and beneficial, even when they appear outlandish now and will bring one neglect, at best, and opprobrium, at worst." A Stream of Windows is a collection of op-ed pieces, book reviews, and magazine articles--culled from publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New Republic, and American Enterprise, among others--in which Bhagwati advances his arguments for democratic governments whose economic borders are opened to trade and immigration. Among the highlights are 10 pieces in which he surveys the Clinton administration's economic policy toward Japan. Anyone interested in economic policy at the international level will find food for thought within these pages. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 531 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (July 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262522659
• ISBN-13: 978-0262522656
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,216,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ice-dancing on an iceberg, August 10, 2002

By 

Vilayat Khan (Ithaca, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Stream of Windows: Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration, and Democracy (Paperback)

This man is an intellectual dynamo. Bhagwati says that as an academic his public articles have to be merely the tip of the iceberg (his words) representing the years of careful model-building and thought. If the articles in this compilation are the tip, we should be awed at the prospect of the iceberg. And his style isn't stilted , it is ice-dancing on top of the iceberg.

Can protectionism be justified , either as a first-best or as a second-best policy?

Is there any truth behind the allegation that the Japanese system is rigged to preclude foreign competition?

Is trade responsible for the plight of the unskilled Western proletariat? Or is technological change the major causal factor? Is the average price of labor-intensive goods actually rising or falling in the free-trade world? Bhagwati says" The pressure on the wages at the bottom is overwhelmingly due to domestic technical change; the job insecurity in the middle and at the top is primarily due to the Global Age. "

Does the new "blue" and "green" protectionism pass intellectual scrutiny? Is the "fair trade before free trade" slogan as morally sharp as it appears, or does it fail to consider all moral alternatives?

Does growth lead to deteriorating environment? Or is this sloppy thinking unsupported by empirical data? What does the data say?

Will free trade lead to a "race to the bottom" in environmental standards? Or will the rising consciousness about environmentalism throughout the world , even in poor countries like India(with an environment-friendly Supreme Court, for instance) , prevent such a thing? In other words, is the "race to the bottom" a mere theoretical possibility or a real practical danger? Will countries really lower environmental standards drastically to reduce cost of business? Or will other factors like tax incentives dominate over environmental regulation during investment decisions, thereby leaving the "race to the bottom" a mere theoretical fear ? Similarly will there be a real as opposed to a theoretical race to the bottom regarding labor standards?

Does it make sense to prescribe "one size fits all" enviro standards for different countries in different stages of development, like less developed countries ? Or uniform labor standards? Would many other countries then be right in demanding that the US, where worker and union protections are really weak, should pass different labor laws than it has at the moment? Should countries at a level of development of the US at the beginning of the 20th century be forced to adopt enviro and labor standards that weren't adopted in the West until recently? As Bhagwati says in the book " Mexico has a greater social incentive than does the United States to spend an extra dollar preventing dysentery rather than reducing lead in gasoline ".

Two quotes from the book

"Environmentalists have cause for concern. Not all concerns are legitimate, however, and not all the solutions to legitimate concerns are sensible. "

"It is surely tragic that the proponents of two of the great causes of the 1990s, trade and the environment, should be locked in combat. The conflict is largely gratuitous. There are at times philosophical differences between the two that cannot be reconciled, as when some environmentalists assert nature's autonomy, whereas most economists see nature as a handmaiden to humankind. For the most part, however, the differences derive from misconceptions. It is necessary to dissect and dismiss the more egregious of these fallacies before addressing the genuine problems."

Bhagwati also punctures "zero-sum" win-lose scary movies of globalization , not just by pointing to the win-win nature of trade based on comparative advantage analysis, but also by pointing to fallacies underlying arguments that call for promoting so called "high value-added" industries.

Discussions of globalization often founder on ideological rocks, and cool dispassionate analysis is short in coming. If one is to carry away one message from this book, it is that trade does not have to be viewed through "left-wing" or "right-wing" glasses. Cool-headed analysis is called for on an instrument that has the potential for doing do much good to so many. Another lesson to carry away from this book, I think, is that "free trade" is not some knee-jerk accompaniment to "free markets" , so that everytime you say one , you also say the other - the case for free trade is based on careful analysis based on comparative advantage. Redistributive effects of trade , like hurting unskilled workers in one country at the expense of skilled workers in the same country, are a theoretical possibility. Only empirircal data can show if this effect is large , or small and swamped by other effects like technology.

In a world where we are innundated with books by some "expert" or the other mouthing his or her own analysis of the globalized world, as a layman I would much rather trust this TIP OF THE ICEBERG backed by solid academic thinking.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-presented exposition on free trade, March 31, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: A Stream of Windows: Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration, and Democracy (Hardcover)

In this book, the prominent trade economist Jagdish Bhagwati examines a wide range of issues on mutlilateral trade and international economics. A strong advocate of free trade and democracy, Bhagwati has presented a conscientious "stream" of strong arguments against protectionism. His previous experience with the then GATT has added further strength and flavour to his arguments. What is more - Bhagwati's writing is clear, succinct and yet highly entertaining - the essays are short proses aiming at the general public. An excellent collection of essays for readers who are interested in international trade policy issues but not professionally trained in economics. Highly recommended.