It is positively bizarre how discussions of trade liberalization always ignore the possibility of liberalizing trade in highly paid professional services. There really are no great mysteries in the recent pattern of trade or its consequences. The trade policies of administrations of both political parties have been designed to put less educated workers (primarily manufacturing workers) in direct competition with low paid workers in the developing world. The predicted result of this pattern of trade is lower wages for workers without college degrees and cheaper manufactured goods. This is what the United States has seen over the last quarter century. People unhappy with growing inequality and stagnating living standards for the middle class can promote further trade liberalization, but this would be focused on highly paid professional services. Lower fees for doctors, lawyers, and other highly educated professionals translates into lower health care costs and higher living standards for the middle class. Unfortunately, the so-called free traders become protectionists when the topic is free trade in physicians' or lawyers' services. It is understandable that the politicians who represent these highly paid professionals would try to keep trade liberalization in their services off the agenda, but why does the NYT help them?
--Dean Baker
