Foreword

• Author: Clifford W. Cobb
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.12318
• Published date: 01 January 2020
• Date: 01 January 2020

Foreword

Editor-in-Chief

By Clifford W. Cobb

This issue, edited by Alexandra W. Lough, tackles the topic of free trade

from a multiplicity of angles. These articles serve as a reminder that

trade is much more than the exchange of goods and services. It is an

integral part of geopolitics, a lubricant of international relations, and a

source of the shifting balance of power among nations. The globaliza-

tion of trade, which has restricted the power of government agencies to

regulate both trade and investment, has transformed the nature of the

state and its ability to respond to citizens. In standard economic theo-

ries, trade is a specialized aspect of economics that analyzes exchange

of goods and services across national boundaries. As a practical matter,

however, the purely economic (price-related) features of trade are only

one specialized aspect of a larger domain that encompasses cultural

interactions, politics, diplomacy, and war.

Even within the subset of relations defined as economic, trade is

normally differentiated from investment. Yet, the rules of accounting

require them to be tied together: nations that generate trade surpluses

must invest them in countries with trade deficits. Economists are well

aware of this reciprocal relationship, but they frequently write about

trade without reference to investment, as if they were separable. This

is merely the first layer of fog that obfuscates the subject of trade in

economic literature.

“Free Trade” as a Double Bind

References to the term “free trade” inherently generate a dynamic that

has been termed a “double bind.” A double bind exists when any

answer to a statement invariably places the respondent in an unten-

able position. If asked, “Are you still killing babies?” no one would say,

“Yes,” but a negative answer simply means one has stopped engaging

in the reprehensible behavior. The only correct response to a double

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 79, No. 1 (January, 2020).

DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12318

© 2020 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.