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“A beeline from Hirschman’s forgotten book to today’s perilous plight of multilateralism. Kenneth Reinert’s rigorous analysis is matched only by his erudition. And it is a page turner too.”
— Petros Mavroidis, Columbia Law School
Schar School of Policy and Government Professor of Public Policy Kenneth A. Reinert’s new book, The Lure of Economic Nationalism: Beyond Zero Sum (Anthem Press), examines the ideology that prioritizes state intervention in an economy—including policies involving tariffs and restrictions on labor, goods, and capital movement—and opposes efforts toward globalization. And that’s just scratching the surface.
“Economic nationalism embraces protectionism, go-it-alone technology development, and even ethnic discrimination,” said Reinert, director of the Schar School’s Global Commerce and Policy master’s program. “It is an increasingly popular ideology in the current era and forms a challenge to the post-World War II multilateral system.”
Recent examples of the policy include many of the Trump administration’s economic policies and, in the United Kingdom, the Brexit process, he said.
But with so many modern proponents, it has to be asked: Does economic nationalism promote prosperity?
“Many international economists and researchers in global political economy suggest that it does not,” he said. “This book takes up these issues and offers a defense of the multilateral system of governance as an alternative to zero-sum mindsets.”