RECOMMENDED READING
During the three-decade heyday of globalization, goods and money ping-ponged their way to every corner of the world, generating stupendous amounts of wealth, trade and technological innovation.
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Oren Cass, the chief economist at American Compass, a conservative think tank, says that with the Trump tariffs, the effect would be positive.
He argues that factories, often located outside of the tech, finance and media capitals, can boost regions that need it. A factory creates jobs and serves as an economic hub. That in turn generates other jobs — for barbers, baristas and manicurists.
“Reorienting the economy toward one that is going to better serve the average worker,” could reduce inequality, Mr. Cass said.
Recommended Reading
What Conservative Critics of Globalization Miss
It is hard, nay impossible, to find a more sophisticated conservative critique of globalization than that articulated by Oren Cass. Perhaps because Cass was once a card-carrying member of the economic establishment himself, he has an exceptionally clear sense of some of the problematic assumptions that have underpinned that establishment’s high level of support for globalization over the past three decades.
Talkin’ (Policy) Shop: Balancing U.S. Trade
On this episode of Policy in Brief, Oren Cass is joined by American Compass policy director Chris Griswold to discuss how U.S. trade fell so far out of balance—and some ideas for how to rebalance it.
Can Free Trade Work for Everyone?
Pete Coy discusses the debate over free trade, highlighting Oren Cass’s rebuttal of Glenn Hubbard’s recent book.
