Globalization and the Myths of Free Trade: History, Theory and Empirical Evidence

The world has become a human laboratory for the momentous social experiment called neoliberalism. Its proclaimed purpose is to reduce global poverty, its protocols are derived from the orthodox theory of competitive free markets and its policies are enforced by the full weight of the rich countries and global institutions such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This book is a critical examination of this ongoing enterprise, of its history, theory, practice, and most of all, of its outcomes. An international team of contributors has been assembled including Lance Taylor, Ha-Joon Chang and Ajit Singh.