On trade and justice

Fernando R Tesón

Theoria, vol. 51, no. 104, 2004, pp. 192–202

Abstract

In this article I address the issue of trade and global justice. I argue that the best way to enhance opportunity for the poor in the world is to establish conditions of global free movement of goods, services, and persons. Moellendorf deserves credit for having addressed the question of international trade, and even more credit for having criticized protectionist policies as inconsistent with global justice. Yet establishing free trade is, I believe, much more urgent than creating the global redistributive agency that Moellendorf favours, and it might well render that agency unnecessary. These comments are intended, then, as a friendly amendment to Moellendorf’s views.

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Almost every argument for immigration controls is flawed. Take, for example, the argument that we need to ‘protect out jobs’. Well, why is someone who charges too much for his labour entitled to keep that job and not be out competed? The usual answer is that it is all right to be out competed by a compatriot but not by a foreigner. But this is simply xenophobic (‘communitarian’ would be a more charitable word)[.]

migration
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