Vol.24, No. 05	October 2, 1998

THE ECONOMIST AS ACTIVIST: JAGDISH BHAGWATI (see photo)

IN HIS NEW BOOK, BHAGWATI EXPOUNDS ON MORAL IMPERATIVES AND FREE TRADE

By Hannah Fairfield

Every flat surface is covered by papers and books in Jagdish Bhagwati's eighth floor office in the International Affairs Building.

As one of the world's top trade theorists, he's been a prolific writer for technical and popular audiences alike, and has consistently been on the forefront of economic theory. "I think economists who refrain from engaging vigorously in public policy debates are a wasted resource," he said, chuckling as he reflected on his maverick reputation. "An academic scholar can best advance the public good by becoming a public nuisance."

But behind Bhagwati's gentle self-mockery is an economist devoted to the ideals of free trade and open societies, where free markets exist in the context of free human beings. He passionately believes that monitoring free trade is nothing short of a moral imperative-and that the United States, as a world superpower, has a leadership duty to uphold that moral standard.

Bhagwati, the Arthur Lehman Professor of Economics as well as a professor of political science at Columbia, presents his arguments in his newest book, A Stream of Windows: Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration, and Democracy. Over the past 10 years, he has been a prolific commentator, and this book, which is already being reprinted by MIT Press, is a testament to that: It is a collection of 56 of his lectures and essays from The New York Times, the Financial Times, the New Republic, and other periodicals. The Boston Globe, in a recent review, said, "There is no economist better known on trade today-or better able to defend it-than Bhagwati."

His penchant for public writing-and his ability to mobilize economic troops to action-has earned him influence in politics. Before Clinton's summit with then-Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in 1994, Bhagwati organized a signature campaign among top U.S. economists urging Hosokawa to reject Clinton's demand for import targets. The economists rallied behind Bhagwati, and Japan refused the trade demands.

Bhagwati served for two critical years as the economic advisor to the director general of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT, when the Uruguay Round-one of the most important pieces of trade legislation in recent memory-was being negotiated. He has also won many distinguished prizes for his work on the public domain. On Sept. 19, he was awarded the Frank Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy, and earlier this year received the Freedom Prize from Switzerland.

His success is a reflection of his delight in public debate and his irrepressible wit. Several of the chapters in A Stream of Windows are Bhagwati's reviews of other books-such as one written by Wall Street icon George Soros. Reviewing it, Bhagwati asked, "Money talks, but can it write?"

Bhagwati's wit is an instrument for the communication of his serious message: free trade is essential to solving global economic problems.

"Language is an important tool," he said. "If you want to be in the public domain, jest, sarcasm and irony are your weapons. Logic alone will not do."

Even though he had written hundreds of technical articles on economic policy and founded and edited two leading journals (Economics & Politics and The Journal of International Economics) he thought he could do more to bring economic issues to a broader public. That was the impetus for his most recent book.

"Ten years ago, people were beginning to raise questions about globalization-about trade, immigration and democracy-asking deeply fundamental questions about societies as a whole," he said. "I wanted to lessen the confusion."

His new book does just that. Bhagwati preaches that the United States must employ free trade to promote prosperity, without which we can neither reduce poverty in the poor countries nor advance social agendas everywhere. He also believes that free trade is often blamed for problems it does not cause, such as pollution and other environmental problems, child labor and illegal immigration. He describes protectionism (for example, using tariffs or import quotas to protect one's industry) as a lazy-man's approach because it doesn't address, much less solve, these problems.

He is now a U.S. citizen, though he was born in India and educated in England, and thinks the United States has a duty that comes with its strength. "We must embrace free trade while advancing social agendas proactively by quite different means," he said.

He argues that linking the social agendas to trade treaties and negotiations slows down trade liberalization by creating obstacles to free trade. At the same time, the trade context reflects the rich countries' competitiveness concerns rather than a truly "one-planet" approach. This then undermines the moral legitimacy of U.S. demands, since "we are throwing stones at their glass houses while building walls around our own," he said. The smart, sustainable and efficient way to promote social values elsewhere is by strengthening non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and democratic institutions within these countries.

The frontier of economic theory is a place where Bhagwati is comfortable. In 1988, when he wrote Protectionism, few policy makers foresaw its impact. The book, which warned against the demonization of Japan, proved prophetic and is in its seventh printing. In 1970, he and his wife, Padma Desai, herself a Columbia professor of economics and now a leading expert on Russia, wrote a book about economic reforms in India. Their well-documented case was virtually ignored until two decades later, when Indian leaders caught up to the economists' theories. And again, with his latest book, he is on the cutting-edge of economic debate-calling for free trade in the context of social reform.

"I was absolutely by myself many times," he said. "But I always tell my students just to hang in there. If you have a view you are passionate about, the world may come around to where you are."