Francisco Rodríguez wrote a detailed and laudatory review of
Free Trade Reimagined for the
Journal of Economic Literature. Noting that Unger "deliberately eschews" the language of economics, Rodriguez describes Unger's project in
Free Trade Reimagined as follows: Unger's critique is directed at the practical case for free trade that is premised on the theory of comparative advantage. His central contention is that the model of comparative advantage is too partial, incomplete, and empirically inaccurate to permit the drawing out of the general broad policy implications which are commonly attributed to it. Unger's interest is not in theoretical debates in economics, but rather in the broader process of formulation of trade policy and the design of the institutions of the world trading system. Rodriguez identifies and examines the three basic points that make up Unger's central argument: • That trade theory is fundamentally incomplete. • That international competition and political institutions can have significant effect on technological progress. • That the political economy case for free trade is flawed. Rodriguez notes that "this is not the first time that someone has come up with a reasonable case for trade protection—indeed ... the literature is filled with this type of argument." But, Rodriguez notes, Unger is less skeptical of state intervention in markets because, unlike many economists, Unger does not view a state's vulnerability to "
rent-seeking behaviors" as given, but sees this vulnerability as variable depending on the power of various groups in a society, the nature of bureaucracy, and the openness of the political process. But Rodriguez's final assessment of
Free Trade Reimagined is a positive one: Unger's book is valuable because it puts together a set of ideas—some of them well-known, others new—into a coherent proposal for a different approach to free trade than the one that today finds overwhelming acceptance in policy circles and among academic economists. The fact that some of these ideas had been developed by economists shows that there is not as much distance as could appear between what Unger is claiming and what our profession has found. What is novel is the way in which Unger puts together these distinct observations into a well-thought out case that with practical relevance for the formation of commercial policy and the design of international economic institutions. While economists are familiar with the elements that make up this case, Unger deserves the credit for drawing out their full implications. However, Kreinin identified what he described as a number of "questionable propositions" in the book. Kreinin concluded that too much of [
Free Trade Reimagined] consists of assertions (rather than testable hypotheses), without even examples to illustrate them. To buttress his arguments, I would suggest adding many real world examples. It is indeed difficult to revolutionize a theory that has been around for many years and change radically a trading system built on it, by writing one book. It certainly can’t be done by simply imagining that an alternative system is superior. Chen summed up Unger's main message as being "that the debate about free trade cannot be resolved independently of politics." Chen singled out for special praise Unger's argument that "the tasks that require repetition should ... be left to machines, allowing workers to specialize in the other tasks that do not require repetition and thus are the ones that will lead to innovation." As Chen notes, "[t]his point of view is so accurate that it comes to a surprise that it still remains largely overlooked in the literature and in the debate on free trade." Chen concluded: "Overall, [
Free Trade Reimagined] is an exceptional contribution, providing an original and innovative perspective to the rethinking of globalization and free trade." ==References==