• Debates at Dartmouth

• Slaughter faculty profile

Tuck professor calls for real debate on globalization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 26, 2007

CONTACT:  Kim Keating, 603-646-2733

HANOVER, N.H.—If Professor Matthew Slaughter could ask presidential candidates one question during this primary season it would be how they plan on creating a U.S. economic policy that both fosters globalization and spreads its returns as widely as possible.

Global engagement has generated large gains for the overall U.S. economy. Slaughter, professor of international economics at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, says decades of trade and investment liberalization have raised living standards upwards of $1 trillion per year; further moves in merchandise and services could mean a $500 billion increase in annual U.S. income.

But as the United Automobile Workers’ recent nationwide action against General Motors illustrates, this growth isn’t reaching every worker, family, and community. "This is perhaps the paramount policy challenge facing America today," writes Slaughter, in a recent article in The Wall Street Journal.  "How can we continue to realize the aggregate gains of globalization and also address its distribution pressures?"

Many point to the UAW strike as evidence that globalization damages America, while calling for policies that limit U.S. engagement with the overall global economy. Slaughter says in reality the U.S. automobile industry can be seen as an example of the overall gains generated by the dynamic and interrelated forces of trade, and investment. "The biggest growth opportunities for the Big Three are all outside the U.S. Limiting their ability to expand abroad will only further their overall difficulties back home."

Globalization and its effects on the U.S. economy has been a dominant theme at the various the Republican and Democratic presidential candidate debates in 2007. But Slaughter says the talk on the campaign trail fails to mention its overall positive impact. The discussion has focused on "fair trade, not free trade," adds Slaughter. "It is about pulling back on previous trade agreements."

Rather than erecting trade barriers, Slaughter prefers open borders with a mix of domestic policies to help bridge the gap. "Barriers are unlikely to stop the competitive pressures. They also impose large economy-wide costs and can trigger barriers abroad."

Slaughter has taught at Tuck since 2002 and is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. From 2005 to 2007 he served on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Founded in 1900, Tuck is the first graduate school of management in the country and consistently ranks among the top business schools worldwide.