WTO eliminates standards ratchets down. Instead of World Bank development projects, providing for real assistance for education and healthcare very basic human needs may be a better place to start. Mandating taxes and labor costs a world minimum wage, child labor laws, safety and working conditions. Excessive free trade undermines self-sufficiency and does not maximize relative power. Realism applied to international economic relations is often called mercantilism .
Wealth is fungible and can be turned into military power and influence.
Should use barriers to protect producers from foreign competition think unilaterally about relative gains even if it means sacrifice of absolute gains. Next week we will discuss collective goods theory and the environment. Briefly, it is always very difficult to organize to protect collective goods. Which collective goods worth protecting. Many goods, no organized process.