Review of Alvaro Santos, Chantal Thomas, and David Trubek (eds.), World Trade and Investment Law Reimagined: A Progressive Agenda for an Inclusive Globalization
Taking notice of the growing discontent of those who have suffered at the hands of globalization through job loss, stagnant wages, and economic insecurity, the editors of World Trade and Investment Law Reimagined: A Progressive Agenda for an Inclusive Globalization invited twenty-one experts from ten different countries to present heterodox perspectives from economics and law to reconsider the political economy of global trade and investment. The contributions take the form of short, diverse, and engaging essays. While they explore diverse issues (each deserving of assiduous discussion), the essays share four elements. First, the authors recognize the maldistributive effects of the extant trade and investment regime, and the resulting legitimacy crisis. Second, they reject the view that enhancing economic efficiency, or increasing aggregate welfare, suffices to justify this regime. Third, they question the idea that wealth redistribution should remain exclusively a national question. Finally, the authors share the premise that the global economy is created by the legal system.