Talk:Free trade

The world's largest free trade area took effect in Africa in July 2020. It is projected to contribute to an increase in GDP and industrial specialization.^[1]

@B. M. L. Peters: I would appreciate it if you didn't remove sourced info with no explanation. Benjamin (talk) 18:36, 16 February 2021 (UTC)

The article uses those two words wildly... 2A01:E34:EC12:36C0:F18D:D656:AA78:1B1B (talk) 14:07, 5 February 2023 (UTC)

Because every economic policy creates winners and losers. Changing the minimum wage, or tax code, or business regulations will create winners (people who benefit from the change) and losers (people who are hurt by it). The point about free trade is that the "losers" are concentrated while the winners are widely dispersed throughout the economy -it's a net gain for the economy. This article should be more clear about this and not act like trade is unique in its effect on employment. Most studies show no big net change in employment from trade (some jobs are lost, some are gained). Jonathan f1 (talk) 06:44, 22 January 2025 (UTC)

The question appears to be about effects of trade itself, and the answer is about effects of changes in trade policy. I'll have to look at the article and see whether this distinction is clear enough. —Tamfang (talk) 02:27, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

I decided it is not, but another editor deemed my distinction not helpful. —Tamfang (talk) 02:42, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

Well, perhaps calling it a "political act" wasn't helpful. Making that same point about economic policy (ie that all economic policies create winners and losers) would be helpful. I don't see how anyone could disagree with this. Jonathan f1 (talk) 08:07, 23 January 2025 (UTC)

I welcome a better term for a change in policy. —Tamfang (talk) 05:32, 25 January 2025 (UTC)

Economists have analyzed trade for centuries, and generally concluded that the law of comparative advantage says that both sides win, because, even if one side can produce an item, if they can get it more efficiently from others, they can use their resources to produce something they are even better at producing. Libertarians (small “L” even though it’s at the beginning of the sentence) long argue whether they should say freedom is good for moral reasons, or because it’s more efficient. Any way you look at it, a person, business, or country should have the right to free trade, but it’s also a good idea for both, because then one has resources, in the form of money, to buy something one desires more cheaply. Admittedly, it has been difficult to get people to understand the advantage of buying things cheaply, even though jobs may be lost. Problem is, the losses may be incurred by one group, benefits by others; however, one study on washing machines after tariffs were applied, said the cost was $800,000 per job gained, not a good bargain, and many have noted the American advantage in services like banking and software, but try explaining that to the voters, or the President. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.71.133.157 (talk • contribs) 04:25, 29 April 2025 (UTC)

I changed the Category:Conservatism to the Category:Conservatism in the United States. Free trade is by no means the primary value of conservatism. Rather, most conservatives around the world, except the United States, are often less friendly to free trade than liberals. Mureungdowon (talk) 07:34, 5 April 2023 (UTC)

In the further reading section most of the sources are dissertations. This may not fit with WP:RS, WP:SECONDARY and WP:OR so potentially we need to remove these sources in favour of more robust alternatives. Duncnbiscuit (talk) 08:47, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Agreed. ---Avatar317^(talk) 23:26, 19 March 2026 (UTC)

Strongly disagree. The dissertations are NOT listed as sources for this article, but as Further Reading. They each come from leading research universities and were each approved by a panel of experts. Furthermore they are accessible for downloading (at no cost) at most academic libraries. They are highly useful for university students looking for paper topics on "Free Trade"--which has a major theme in economic history since the days of Adam Smith. The dissertations each have long bibliographies that can help the students select their termpaper topic. I looked at all these dissertations and they are all "published" according to Wiki standards. As for OR -- editors of Wikipedia articles are not allowed to use their own original research. That prohibition is reversed in the case of PhD dissertations, where PhD candidates are required to do original research. A Wikipedia editor reading a dissertation is just like a Wikipedia editor reading a book published by a university press. Rjensen (talk) 01:27, 20 March 2026 (UTC)