Title: EconoFact Audio Series—A Brief History of International Trade (and Why It Matters Today)
Course: Indiana Economics Sample Syllabus > Section: Unit 8: Trade

Doug Irwin and Michael Klein discuss how ideas about free trade have changed over the last 250 years. While most economists today agree that free trade improves productive efficiency and offers consumers better choice, some of the objections to trade expressed by historical figures ranging from Alexander Hamilton to John Maynard Keynes still resonate in contemporary debates. The conversation explores the relationship between trade and industrialization and the role of technological change in manufacturing employment.