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Is Free Trade the solution to Third World Poverty?
I was hanging out recently at a cafe near my office and got into an interesting conversation with an investment banker vacationing from the US. He was emphatic that free trade and open markets and open competition are the best solution for third world poverty. I, for one, am very concerned with this topic since chronic poverty afflicts a large majority of the globe.
While, in theory, neo-liberal free trade prescriptions seem attractive aren't there cultural and political barriers to making it happen? Even if a country were to adopt such a system wouldn't it be defeated by corrupt self-dealing and crony capitalism and monopolist practices? What other systems need to be in place or arise simultaneously for this scheme to work? Aren't the major existing economic powerhouses creatures NOT of free markets but protected local markets?
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