Bardonomics

Image: Reuters/YP It’s become fashionable among commentators to mourn what they see as the end of the free trade consensus that has dominated economic thought and policy for decades. The US presidency of Donald Trump, Britain’s exit from the European Union, and a general upswing in populist sentiment are ceaselessly referenced as undeniable indicators of a world with barriers. But is this an accurate narrative? Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat is frequently held up as the epitome of pro-globalisation optimism. In it, he makes bold claims about a world in which globalisation, largely driven by Internet connectivity and a resulting openness toward free trade, levels the playing field across the world and makes historical and geographic divisions inconsequential. This view is too rosy. The critiques populists, and others, raise regarding globalisation and free trade are manifold and legitimate. In response to Friedman, Richard Florida, the American social and econom