美国自由贸易之争：理论与现实之分歧

在美国,与在许多公共政策问题上的意见各异形成对照的是,绝大多数的经济学家都支持自由贸易政策。然而,却有来自政治领域的左翼和右翼的相当数量的社会公众反对自由贸易政策。自由贸易能够增加经济福利,使许多人尤其是消费者获益,但同时也会给某些产业和某个阶层的人群带来损害。经济学家和社会公众对自由贸易问题考虑的角度和侧重点不同,相对于经济学家,公众更强调的是代价而不是利益,加之美国在贸易问题上往往掺杂其他的非贸易因素,由此导致现实中不同的贸易政策取向。

Disputes on free trade in America:The gap between the theory and the reality

In contrast to their divergent opinions on many public-policy issues, most economists strongly support free trade policies. Nonetheless, there is substantial public opposition for such policies------from the right as well as the left ends of the political spectrum. Free trade can increase economic welfare and benefit many people (especially consumers), in the meantime, it can hurt some industries or some people. In term of angles and emphasis, views on free trade between economists and the general public are different. The general public put more emphasis on the price instead of gains compared with economists. What is more, in America, issues on trade are usually mixed with other non-trade factors, thus lead to different trade policy preference.