These days (political or not I don’t know) many a so called ‘pro free trade’ pundits are turning their back and overnight becoming conservative on outsourcing issues. One of them is Princeton University economist and professor Alan S Blinder. He feels that the danger of outsourcing is “deeper than once realized.” Blinder, 61, a former Federal Reserve Board vice-chairman, also feels that 42-56 million jobs are “potentially offshorable.” How did he come to this figure?? He actually has analyzed as many as 817 occupations whether they can be shippable to lower wage countries.
Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati differs. Calling Blinder dead wrong he affirms that;
You have two-way flows, three-way flows; you have what we call trade in variety… Even if India has the same skill person, it doesn’t mean the US is going to suffer. It just means the US and India will transact within the same industry.
An American surgeon is not going to lose his job because drug trials are being done in India.
You ask any American, was it a mistake to put Japan and Europe back on their feet and therefore make them more like America after the World War? Does any American say this was a bad thing on economic grounds? So why fear India or China, who specialise in different aspects of the same thing?
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