A prescient study by two Swedish economists brought up to date by MIT.
"Ignoring Heckscher and Ohlin’s prescient wisdom has cost many people their livelihoods. The best path for society is to increase trade agreements but only if accompanied by fail-safes for the segments of society most likely to be adversely affected.
Policymakers and researchers forgot this for too long and we are now facing the backlash."
World Economic Forum May 2017
Add to that the adoption of robotics, machine learning, robotic process automation and both governments and business need to change policies and business models
The fact is that too few people acquire better skills as quickly as needed; too few disenfranchised families relocate to more promising regions; and the combination of decaying skills and lack of mobility generates a downward spiral of discontent. But all is not lost. Trade lifts all countries and contributes to improvement in productivity and the range of products at our disposal, and engenders myriad innovations that make modern life easier. Increased trade has even helped improve human rights and made companies more socially responsible. And we have known the optimal policy regarding trade agreements for a long time but failed to implement it effectively. Free trade has a necessarily distributive effect. And the correct path is to have trade agreements with specific programs to diminish its negative impact on certain levels of income.
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