With many of free trade advocates nervous about the upcoming WTO meeting in Hong Kong, Mr. James Glassman at Tech Central Station makes a few excellent points. He writes: The World Bank has found that the total gain to the global economy from trade liberalization in agriculture —— the sticking point in Hong Kong, where I'll be next week —— is $248 billion. Of this total, the gain to rich countries is $106 billion; to poor countries, $142 billion. But out of the $142 billion gain to poor countries, the gain that comes from removing trade barriers in rich countries is only $31 billion. The gain to poor countries that comes from removing their own barriers is $111 billion —— nearly four times as great. A new report by Australian trade expert Alan Oxley for World Growth, one of the rare NGOs that promotes market solutions to reduce poverty, concludes that "trade barriers in developing country economies block more trade than barriers in developed...(Read Full Post)