In Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital (Harvard University Press), Clausing makes the argument that Americans, especially those with middle and lower incomes, face stark economic challenges due to rising income inequality and wage stagnation. But these problems do not require us to retreat from the global economy. On the contrary, an open economy overwhelmingly helps.

International trade brings countries together by raising living standards, benefiting consumers, and making countries richer. Global capital mobility helps both borrowers and lenders. International business improves efficiency and fosters innovation. And immigration remains one of America’s greatest strengths, as newcomers play an essential role in economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Closing the door to the benefits of the open economy would cause untold damage for Americans. Instead, Clausing outlines a progressive agenda to manage globalization more effectively, presenting strategies to equip workers for a modern economy, to modernize tax policy for a global economy, and to establish a better partnership between society and the business community.

 Kimberly Clausing is the Thormund Miller and Walter Mintz Professor of Economics at Reed College, where she teaches international trade, international finance, and public finance. She has received two Fulbright Research awards and her research has been supported by external grants from the National Science Foundation, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the International Centre for Tax and Development, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. She has worked on economic policy research with the International Monetary Fund, the Hamilton Project, the Brookings Institution, and the Tax Policy Center, and testified before both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Committee on Finance.

Discussants:

Irene Bloemraad is a Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and a leading expert on immigration. She holds the Thomas Garden Chair of Canadian Studies at Berkeley and is the co-founder of the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, a joint project of faculty, researchers, and students that explores such timely issues as refugee crises, human rights, immigration, nativism and border control concerns.

Gabriel Zucman is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the accumulation, distribution, and preservation of wealth, in a global and historical perspective. His research papers have been published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, American Economic Review, and Journal of Public Economics, among other outlets. He is the author of the Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens, which has been translated into 18 languages.

 This event is co-sponsored by the UC Berkeley Department of Economics, Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative, the Institute of International Studies, and the Blum Center for Developing Economies.