home > the cfr think tank > experts > jagdish n. bhagwati
Senior Fellow for International Economics
Contact Info:
Phone: +1-212-434-9667
E-mail: jbhagwati@cfr.org
Location:
New York, NY
Media downloads:
High-resolution photo (JPG, 2.2 MB)
One-page bio (PDF, 57K)
Video clip (MP4, 892K)
Video clip (WMV, 750K)
Author of In Defense of Globalization, special adviser to the UN and the World Trade Organization, and professor of economics at Columbia University. Latest book, Termites in the Trading System, discusses the deleterious effects of preferential trade agreements.
Expertise:International trade; economic policy reforms; immigration.
Experience:University Professor, Columbia University (current); member of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s high-level advisory group of the NEPAD process in Africa (current); external adviser to the director-general of the WTO (2001); Special Policy Adviser to the UN on globalization (2000); Economic Policy Adviser to the director-general of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (1991-93); Ford International Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1968-80).
Languages:Gujarati and Hindi (fluent).
Honors:The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star (Japan, 2006); Seidman Distinguished Award in International Political Economy (1998); Freedom Prize (Switzerland); Kenan Enterprise Award (United States); Bernhard Harms Prize (Germany); Mahalanobis Memorial Medal (India); John R. Commons Award (United States); Honorary Degrees from Sussex, Rotterdam, and other universities.
Selected Publications:In Defense of Globalization (Oxford University Press, 2004); Free Trade Today (Princeton University Press, 2002); The Wind of the Hundred Days (MIT Press, 2000); A Stream of Windows: Unsettling Reflections on Trade, Immigration, and Democracy (MIT Press, 1998); India in Transition: Freeing the Economy (Oxford University Press USA, 1993); World Trading System at Risk (Prentice Hall Europe, 1991); Protectionism (MIT Press, 1988); Economics & Politics (founder and editor); The Journal of International Economics (founder and editor).
Interview: Economics is a Social Science (Big Think, January 2008)
Presentation:Global Warming (for Zurich Financial Services meeting, Florence, May 2008)
Blog: On the Food Crisis (with Jeffrey Sachs; "Managing Globalization," International Herald Tribune, May 7, 2008)
Current Research Projects
September 23, 2008
Transcript
A meeting with Jagdish Bhagwati, Senior Fellow For International Economics, Council On Foreign Relations, and author of new book "Termites In The Trading System: How Preferential Agreements Undermine Free Trade"
See more in United States, Economics, Business & Foreign Policy, Economic Development, International Finance, Trade
August 21, 2008
Op-Ed
New York Sun
In this New York Sun op-ed, Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya make the case for optimism on the Doha Round. A compromise is possible if the U.S. agrees to cap trade-distorting subsidies at a minimum of the current payouts and India agrees to a downscaling of the Special Safeguard Mechanism.
See more in Trade, International Organizations
August 19, 2008
Op-Ed
Financial Times
As in the 1980s, the United States is once again a fearful giant. In this Financial Times op-ed, Jagdish Bhagwati writes that only an agenda for institutional change that addresses the fragility of jobs and enables workers to face new uncertainties has a chance of returning trade policy to sanity.
See more in Trade
July 2, 2008
Op-Ed
New York Sun
Because of their discriminatory effect and the preferential treatment they give to member nations, Free Trade Agreements must be placed on moratorium, writes Jagdish Bhagwati.
See more in Trade, International Organizations
June 23, 2008
Op-Ed
Financial Times
With the Doha trade round in danger of slipping from our grasp, it has become commonplace to assert that the food crisis, while a tragedy, is a shot in the arm for the talks. In this Financial Times op-ed, Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya find that only one such argument passes muster—the fact that high food prices should soften U.S. opposition to lower agricultural subsidies, thereby relaxing key constraints on the final compromises necessary to reach an agreement on agricultural liberalisation.
See more in India, Trade, International Organizations
June 11, 2008
Testimony
In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jagdish Bhagwati makes recommendations for U.S. policy on sovereign wealth funds.
See more in Economics, Congress
May 27, 2008
Op-Ed
Wall Street Journal
In this Wall Street Journal op-ed, Jagdish Bhagwati and Sandip Madan examine how the US health care system could decrease the rising costs for comprehensive medical coverage and replenish a dearth of doctors by encouraging various forms of international trade in medical services
See more in Trade, Health, Science, and Technology, U.S. Election 2008
July 2008
Book
In this book, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how preferential trade agreements have recreated the unhappy situation of the protectionist 1930s, when world trade was undermined by discriminatory practices, and argues that the world trading system is definitely at risk again.
See more in Economics, International Finance
March 3, 2008
Op-Ed
Financial Times
No Democratic candidate during the primaries can be anything but a protectionist. In this Financial Times op-ed, Jagdish Bhagwati questions whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama is likely to be friendlier as president to the cause of multilateral free trade. He finds that the odds are in favour of Mr Obama.
See more in United States, Trade, U.S. Election 2008
November 29, 2007
Audio
Listen to Jagdish N. Bhagwati, CFR's senior fellow for international economics, discuss his book In Defense of Globalization with students as part of the CFR Academic Conference Call Series.
See more in Economics, Labor, Trade
October 15, 2007
Article
Council on Foreign Relations
Newspaper and magazine stories refer to a "loss of nerve", even a "loss of faith" in free trade by economists. When presidential candidates are challenged by free trade proponents, they typically say: "Ah, but economists no longer have a consensus on free trade." But the truth of the matter is that free trade is alive. The analytical arguments in favor of trade have hardly been dented by its critics, such as Alan Blinder, arrayed against it.
See more in Economic Development, Geoeconomics, Labor, Trade
October 9, 2007
Op-Ed
Financial Times
Turn to the leading US newspapers these days and you will read about the "loss of nerve", even "loss of faith", in free trade by economists. In this Financial Times piece, Jagdish Bhagwati argues that, when examined in a historical perspective, it is clear free trade is alive and well among economists.
See more in Geoeconomics
Updated: September 2007
Academic Module
This module features teaching notes by CFR senior fellow Jagdish N. Bhagwati, author of In Defense of Globalization, along with other resources to supplement the text. In this new edition of his popular book, Bhagwati argues that, when properly regulated, globalization can be the most powerful force for social good in the world today.
See more in Economics
July 30, 2007
Op-Ed
India Today
When the WTO talks among the G-4—the United States, the European Union, India and Brazil—collapsed last month, US Trade Representative Susan Schwab squarely laid the blame on India as the villain of the piece. Jagdish Bhagwati argues that US and EU agricultural subsidies are the real culprits.
See more in India, Trade, International Organizations
July 24, 2007
Op-Ed
Financial Times
Prospects for immigration reform have failed, and mostly because many of the proposed reforms had already been tried, unsuccessfully, with the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. If amnesty is no longer possible, we should instead work to raise the comfort level of immigrants closer to levels of what citizenship brings, argues Jagdish Bhagwati.
See more in United States, Immigration
July 7, 2007
Op-Ed
Wall Street Journal
See more in Trade, International Organizations
May 21, 2007
Article
Financial Times
See more in Trade, U.S. Strategy and Politics
April 17, 2007
Op-Ed
Financial Times
See more in Trade, International Organizations
April 8, 2007
Op-Ed
Financial Times
See more in Trade
In The Closing of the American Border, Edward Alden goes behind the scenes to tell the story of the Bush administration’s struggle to balance security and openness in the wake of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
In Termites in the Trading System, Jagdish Bhagwati reveals how the rapid spread of preferential trade agreements endangers the world trading system.
America Between the Wars explores how the decisions and debates of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Twin Towers shaped the events, arguments, and politics of the world we live in today.
Complete list of CFR Books.
In this report, CFR Senior Fellow Michael A. Levi analyzes the potential use of deterrence in preventing terrorist groups from acquiring nuclear weapons and recommends a new approach to U.S. declaratory policy, as well as ways to improve U.S. capabilities to determine the sources of terrorist attacks.
In this report, Bruce W. MacDonald illuminates the strategic landscape of military space competition between the United States and China and highlights the dangers and opportunities the United States confronts in space.
Complete list of Council Special Reports.
For more information on the David Rockefeller Studies Program, contact:
Gary Samore
Vice President, Director of Studies, and Maurice R. Greenberg Chair
+1.212.434.9627
gsamore@cfr.org
Sebastian Mallaby
Director of the Maurice R. Greenberg Center for
Geoeconomic Studies, Deputy Director of Studies, and Paul A. Volcker Senior
Fellow for International Economics
smallaby@cfr.org
Janine Hill
Deputy Director of Studies Administration
+1.212.434.9753
jhill@cfr.org
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