ANALYSIS: Economists Actually Agree on the Wisdom of Free Trade

By Published on April 26, 2015

If Congress were to take an exam in Economics 101, would it pass? We are about to find out.

The issue at hand is whether Congress will give President Obama “fast track” authority to negotiate a trade deal with our trading partners in the Pacific. The bill is favored by some congressional leaders of both parties, including Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Republican chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Ron Wyden, the committee’s ranking Democrat, and Representative Paul D. Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

House and Senate committees approved versions of the legislation last week. But with influential lawmakers like Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, opposed to the measure, final congressional approval is far from certain.

Among economists, the issue is a no-brainer. Last month, I signed an open letter to John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. I was joined by 13 other economists who have led the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, a post I held from 2003 to 2005. The group spanned every administration from Gerald Ford’s to Barack Obama’s.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/upshot/economists-actually-agree-on-this-point-the-wisdom-of-free-trade.html?abt=0002&abg=0&_r=2

Read the article “ANALYSIS: Economists Actually Agree on the Wisdom of Free Trade” on nytimes.com.

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