This conversation about the role of openness in development strategies and in trade policy is both welcome and overdue. This research is tremendously valuable. I want to raise two levels of the issue, both the narrow and the broad. It is globally unsustainable, unworkable, and will inevitably lead to the kind of crisis that we have seen. These two things are related to each other and I hope at the very least to stimulate some lively conversation and questions this morning.
Openness can mean many different things.
We can talk about free trade certainly, we can talk about an export-led growth or outward orientation, or we can talk about laissez faire policies. I think that there has been a confusion in both research and policy circles about whether we are talking about success in export markets or unilateral lowering of trade barriers. We could all maybe agree that export success can be useful in spurring economic growth and economic development. Reducing one's own trade barriers, however, is very different. This confusion has come up a number of times.