ECIPE Seminar: Globalization and Consumers – Estimating the Gains of Trade for Households

What’s been the main economic effect of globalization? Many will point to lower consumer prices as one of its most tangible consequence. The gradual reduction in barriers to trade and investment over the past decades have opened up markets for more competition, and just as economic theory holds, the effects on production scale and specialization have been visible everywhere. While critics argue that the liberalization of trade have had unwanted effects, few challenge the notion that it has given consumers “more bang for the buck”.