EuroBubba

Rodrik’s progressive trade agenda

Economist Dani Rodrik offers some suggestions for what a progressive trade agenda might look like:

1. Embrace globalization
2. More and better social insurance (safety nets) and redistribution of gains from trade
3. Better international rules to protect domestic values and norms
4. Multilateral orientation
5. Leave “policy space” for developing countries while establishing broad democracy and human rights principles within the trade regime
6. Begin expanding international labor mobility, not just mobility of goods and capital

Mythbuthting

The Washington Post’s Steven Hill demolishes “Five Myths About Sick Old Europe”:

1. The sclerotic European economy is incapable of leading the world.
2. Nobody wants to invest in European companies and economies because lack of competitiveness makes them a poor bet.
3. Europe is the land of double-digit unemployment.
4. The European “welfare state” hamstrings businesses and hurts the economy.
5. Europe is likely to be held hostage to its dependence on Russia and the Middle East for most of its energy needs.

Wrong, not even close, wrong again, bzzz, thanks for trying.

Walled in

Risto Karajkov argues at Newropeans Magazine (silly name, interesting site) that the EU should ease visa restrictions on the people of former Yugoslavia (minus Slovenia and Croatia), who this January 1 “woke up to realize that they are completely surrounded by the thick walls of Europe. They woke up to realize they cannot move out. [...] A businessman planning a business trip through a few new EU member states and a few of the old ones would have to spend a month (in the least) obtaining visas. Anyone confronted with such a challenge, realizing on top of that the amount of working hours he/she would have to spend in all the different consulates, would simply give up. Not to mention the cost. Many estimates have pointed out that a significant share of the financial aid the EU gives to theses countries is offset by what they spend on visas.”