Theses

The criticisms and ideas explored in the preceding pages animate three theoretical conjectures. These three propositions supply a point of departure for another way of thinking about free trade. I present them informally as empirical speculations, neither conclusively validated by fact nor bereft of support in historical experience. Like any other proposal of an approach to understanding complex phenomena, they should be judged by their theoretical fecundity as well as by their success in illuminating the subject immediately at hand. All three theses have implications for the practice of economic analysis well beyond the scope of the theory of international