The Third Big Lie: Globalisation, End of Story!

Economists tend to use incredibly simplistic models of international trade to rationalise globalisation. Mostly they're based on David Ricardo's 1817 two nation / two goods model, which was a brilliant innovation, but simply indulges in extraordinary wishful thinking about the complexity of the global environment and the costs of change. (If an economist ever implies that her/his perspective is scientific realism, I suggest you snort, nod and smile reassuringly, then reach for the straitjacket.) International trade can, very obviously, have many benefits, but also strips out safeguards so that crises go viral; and the benefits and risks are not equally distributed. All market ideologies tend to intensify inequalities, and the ideology of the global market is a humdinger. If you're going to quantify the benefits, you've got to include the costs of adaptation, and you've got to have effective compensatory redistribution for those battered hither and yon by forces way beyond their control. Or, to take the Cameronian view, if your job has been exported to China, you should thank the government for saving you from dependency by taking away your benefits. (That must make sense, surely, if Her Majesty's Prime Minister is saying it.)