Title: International trade regulation and job creation
Abstract: Trade policy is not an employment policy and should not be expected to have major effects on overall employment.When it does so, it is because it interacts with distortions in labor markets, which vary from country to country and time to time.No generalization is feasible, and seeking to make one is pretty much a fool's errand.Policymakers wanting to boost employment should think about the aggregate economic balance and labor market institutions, and not interfere with international trade. ConsThrough its effects on the rest of the economy, the protection of one sector reduces the jobs available in other, export-oriented, sectors.In the long term, trade liberalizations can boost employment and, other things being equal, more open economies have higher levels of employment.Trade reform is frequently associated with an increase in the number of "better" jobs.Trade reform may cause intrasectoral reallocation from less to more efficient firms within sectors.