Editing Free trade (section)

== Opinions ==
[[File: Free Trade and Protection.jpg|upright=1.35|thumb|Political poster from the British [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] displaying their views on the differences between an economy based on free trade and [[protectionism]]. The free-trade shop is shown as full to the brim with customers due to its low prices. The shop based upon protectionism is shown as suffering from high prices and a lack of customers, with animosity between the business owner and the regulator.]]

=== Economist opinions ===
The literature analyzing the economics of free trade is rich. Economists have done extensive work on the theoretical and empirical effects of free trade. Although it creates winners and losers, the broad consensus among economists is that free trade provides a net gain for society.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Fuller|first1=Dan|last2=Geide-Stevenson|first2=Doris|title=Consensus Among Economists: Revisited|journal=Journal of Economic Review|volume=34|issue=4|pages=369–387|date=Fall 2003|url=http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/fall03/fuller.pdf|doi=10.1080/00220480309595230|s2cid=143617926|access-date=2007-01-22|archive-date=2004-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040920081202/http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/fall03/fuller.pdf|url-status=dead}}{{registration required}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Friedman|first=Milton|author-link=Milton Friedman|title=The Case for Free Trade|journal=[[Hoover Digest]]|volume=1997|issue=4|pages=42–49|url=http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3550727.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070122032127/http://www.hoover.org/publications/digest/3550727.html|archive-date=22 January 2007|bibcode=1993SciAm.269e..42B|year=1993|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1193-42}}</ref> In a 2006 survey of American economists (83 responders), "87.5% agree that the U.S. should eliminate remaining tariffs and other barriers to trade" and "90.1% disagree with the suggestion that the U.S. should restrict employers from outsourcing work to foreign countries".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Whaples|first=Robert|title=Do Economists Agree on Anything? Yes!|journal=The Economists' Voice|volume=3|issue=9|year=2006|doi=10.2202/1553-3832.1156|s2cid=201123406}}</ref>

Quoting Harvard economics professor [[N. Gregory Mankiw]], "Few propositions command as much consensus among professional economists as that open world trade increases economic growth and raises living standards".<ref>{{cite web|last=Mankiw|first=Gregory|title=Outsourcing Redux|date=7 May 2006|url=http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/2006/05/outsourcing-redux.html|access-date=22 January 2007}}</ref> In a survey of leading economists, none disagreed with the notion that "freer trade improves productive efficiency and offers consumers better choices, and in the long run these gains are much larger than any effects on employment".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_0dfr9yjnDcLh17m|title=Poll Results|publisher=IGM Forum|access-date=1 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160622104941/http://www.igmchicago.org/igm-economic-experts-panel/poll-results?SurveyID=SV_0dfr9yjnDcLh17m|archive-date=22 June 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Paul Krugman]] stated that free trade is greatly beneficial to the world as a whole, and especially beneficial to people in poorer nations, since it allows them to increase their standards of living.{{ r | Krugman_2007 }}  He also stated in 2007 that, as the US trades more with less-industrialized countries whose workers are paid less than equivalent US workers (2007 wages in Mexico were 1/10 what they were in the US, and in China less than 1/20), increased trade with those countries will put downward pressure on unskilled labor rates in the US.<ref name="Krugman_2007">{{cite news |author=Paul Krugman |date=December 12, 2007 |title=The Trouble with Trade |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/opinion/28krugman.html}}</ref>

=== Public opinions ===
{{section update|date=April 2024}}
An overwhelming number of people internationally – both in developed and developing countries – support trade with other countries, but are more split when it comes to whether or not they believe trade creates jobs, increases wages, and decreases prices.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stokes |first1=Bruce |title=Americans, Like Many in Other Advanced Economies, Not Convinced of Trade's Benefits |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/09/26/americans-like-many-in-other-advanced-economies-not-convinced-of-trades-benefits/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=26 September 2018}}</ref> The median belief in advanced economies is that trade  increases wages, with 31 percent of people believing it does, compared to 27 percent who believe it does not. In emerging economies, 47 percent of people believe trade increases wages, compared to 20 percent who says it lowers wages. There is a positive relationship of 0.66 between the average GDP growth rate for the years 2014 to 2017 and the percentage of people in a given country that say trade increases wages.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stokes |first1=Bruce |title=4. Nearly half of adults in emerging markets say trade raises wages |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/09/26/nearly-half-of-adults-in-emerging-markets-say-trade-raises-wages/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=26 September 2018}}</ref> Most people, in both advanced and emerging economies, believe that trade increases prices. 35 percent of people in advanced economies and 56 percent in emerging economies believe trade increases prices, and 29 percent and 18 percent, respectively, believe that trade lowers prices. Those with a higher level of education are more likely than those with less education to believe that trade lowers prices.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stokes |first1=Bruce |title=5. Public views on trade and prices are at odds with economic theory |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2018/09/26/public-views-on-trade-and-prices-are-at-odds-with-economic-theory/ |website=Pew Research Center |date=26 September 2018}}</ref>