Joseph Stiglitz: after every round of trade talks, the poorest countries are worse off

stiglitz takes a dim view of the wrap-up of the current round of development talks taking place in hong kong this week...

Whatever face-saving measures are taken, the meeting in Hong Kong in mid-December to wrap up the current development round of world trade talks will almost surely fail the only test that matters: whether such an agreement promotes the poorest countries’ development. Cynics will say that the advanced countries, in the tradition of previous trade deals, intended to provide only the bare minimum in the way of concessions, while generating the full maximum in the way of “spin,” to get the developing countries on board.

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[D]eveloping countries today need to take a hard look at the details of what is being offered. Will the benefits—increased access to international markets—be greater than the costs of meeting rich countries’ demands? Many developing countries are likely to come to the conclusion that no agreement is better than a bad agreement, particularly one as unfair as the last.

i have enormous respect for joseph stiglitz... his book, "globalization and its discontents," opened my eyes to global realities i barely knew existed... that book, coupled with time spent in emerging economies over the past few years, has put me on a steep learning curve with a sensitivity to things most folks in the u.s. have no clue about... while i'm a rank beginner compared to someone with the knowledge, experience and perspective of stiglitz, i try to follow the often arcane actions of the imf, the world bank and the wto... i'm probably a case study in "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing..."

Joseph E. Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University, was the recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics. His best-selling Globalization and its Discontents has been translated into more than 30 languages. His new book Fair Trade for All: How Trade can Promote Development, written with Andrew Charlton, is being published this month by Oxford University Press.

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