"I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that." One particular reason: while trade increases welfare, it also has distributional effects. As trade

"I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that." One particular reason: while trade increases welfare, it also has distributional effects. As trade barriers go to zero, the marginal effect on welfare of a further reduction becomes small, compared to the marginal effect on distribution. Another reason: globalization allows capital to avoid restrictions (e.g. on environmental externalities, child labour, slavery) that are seen in the West as part of the social contract. Here's the Autor paper: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w18054/w18054.pdf https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w18054/w180... Dani Rodrik's recent work on populism: https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w23559/w23559.pdf https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w23559/w235... And his classic "Has globalization gone too far" is worth reading too.