Advocates of Trade Liberalisation

About the lecture

In this module, we think about some key advocates of trade liberalisation and their main arguments. We focus on: (i) the origins of the free trade doctrine with classical economists like Adam Smith and David Ricardo, who argued that the removal of barriers to international trade would lead to economic growth by enabling countries to specialise production; (ii) the response that liberalisation may lead to unemployment rather than greater specialisation, as seen in Mexico after it joined the NAFTA free trade agreement; (iii) John Stuart Mill’s argument that free trade promotes global exchange of ideas and technology; (iv) the current dominance of the free trade doctrine, and the intellectual basis of this with neoclassical economists like Friedrich von Hayek; (v) how trade liberalisation is defined and measured, and how it is distinguished from trade openness.

About the lecturer

Dr Penélope Pacheco-López is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Kent. Her research focuses on development economics and international trade policy, with a particular focus on trade liberalisation. In addition to her academic research, she has extensive experience in the international development sector, and has previously worked for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She is co-author of Economics of Development: Theory and Evidence (2017) and Trade Liberalisation and the Poverty of Nations (2008).