An interview with John Van Reenen of MIT.  The Economist: At its most basic level, what is free trade? John Van Reenen: Free trade means allowing good and services to move as freely as possible across different countries. As countries developed, they started making and swapping things among people within the borders of their own country. As transport improved, they could start buying and selling stuff abroad. For a long time there were big barriers to international trade. At a time when governments struggled to raise tax from their own people, levying heavy import duties on things coming in from abroad was easier to implement. But economists eventually won the argument, which said that keeping those barriers as low as possible was sensible policy.

Read more... The Economist ? `Open Markets? blog