Welthandel: Frei und fair? Handelsabkommen in der Kritik

It is often argued that growing divergences in global income distribution are the product of an unfair global economic order. Do "fair trade" and "free trade" represent a contradiction in terms? Gabriel Felbermayr, Ifo Institute, and Wilhelm Kohler, University of Tübingen, provide an introduction to this topic. For Christoph Scherrer, University of Kassel, modern trade agreements tend to offer "protection for the strong, not the weak". Richard Senti, ETH Zurich, points out that regional integration agreements have given rise to a sort of secondary world trade order that conflicts with the WTO. Johannes Wallacher, Hochschule für Philosophie München, sees both opportunities and risks. Peter-Christian Müller-Graff, University of Heidelberg, sees no future for traditional free trade agreements that only address market access. According to Heribert Dieter, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin, trade policy has been massively repoliticised in recent years. Stephan Leibfried, University of Bremen, advises economists to look beyond their methodological and content-based area of expertise, since power, dominance and political legitimacy are becoming key issues in addition to distribution.