Economist's View: Reich: An Introduction to Economic Populism:
"Or consider trade-opening agreements. They give Americans access to more low-cost products and services from abroad. This makes Americans’ dollars go further. But the agreements especially benefit the rich, who spend more ... because they have more income to spend. The agreements also typically impose a burden on working-class Americans who... lose their jobs to foreigners. These job losers get new jobs, but studies show the new jobs pay 10 to 15 percent less... Even if you assume that access to cheaper goods from abroad adds about 10 to 15 percent to their purchasing power, these working-class wage earners come out about even, at best. That means the overall result of most trade agreements is to widen inequality. Do the efficiency benefits of trade outweigh this result? Maybe a decade ago when inequality was less pronounced. Probably not, now. "
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