A Stream of Windows: Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration, and Democracy

Columbia professor Jagdish Bhagwati envisions himself as part of a tradition of economists taking part in public-policy advocacy that includes such luminaries as John Maynard Keynes, Milton Friedman, and Paul Samuelson. He also firmly believes that part of the price that tenured academics pay for their job security is the obligation to speak out on the issues, "to break ranks, to cut through the fog of obfuscations that attends the politics of policymaking, to call a spade a spade, to say 'oh, bunk!' when necessary, and to propose policies and advance agendas that reflection and analysis lead one to believe is good and beneficial, even when they appear outlandish now and will bring one neglect, at best, and opprobrium, at worst." A Stream of Windows is a collection of op-ed pieces, book reviews, and magazine articles--culled from publications such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New Republic, and American Enterprise, among others--in which Bhagwati advances his arguments for democratic governments whose economic borders are opened to trade and immigration. Among the highlights are 10 pieces in which he surveys the Clinton administration's economic policy toward Japan. Anyone interested in economic policy at the international level will find food for thought within these pages.