Irwin, Douglas A. 1962- (Douglas Alexander Irwin)

views updated

Irwin, Douglas A. 1962- (Douglas Alexander Irwin)

PERSONAL:

Born October 31, 1962, in East Lansing, MI; son of Manley R. and Doris J. Irving. Education: University of New Hampshire, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1984; Columbia University M.A., 1985, Ph.D. (with distinction), 1988.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Economics, Dartmouth College, 301 Rockefeller Hall, Hanover, NH 03755. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Economist, educator, writer, and editor. Council of Economic Advisors, Washington, DC, staff economist, 1986-87; Board of Governors of Federal Reserve System, Washington, DC, economist, 1988-91; University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, assistant professor, 1991-94, professor of business economics, 1994-97; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, professor of economics, 1997—, department chairperson, 2002-04, Robert E. Maxwell '23 professor of arts and sciences, 2005—. Visiting professor of economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999; visiting scholar at International Monetary Fund, 1993, 2001, and 2004, Federal Reserve Board, 1997 and 2000, and Australian National University, 2005; Henry C. Wendt scholar in political economy, American Enterprise Institute, 1995-96. Institute for Policy Reform, junior research fellow, 1992-95; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, consultant, 1994-1995; National Bureau of Economic Research, faculty research fellow, 1994-97, research associate, 1997—, Center for Trade Policy Studies, Cato Institute, member of board of advisors, 1999—.

MEMBER:

American Economic Association, Economic History Association, Cliometrics Society.

AWARDS, HONORS:

National Science Foundation grant, 1999-2001, 2001-03; John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowship, 2004-05.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(Editor) Jagdish Bhagwati, Political Economy and International Economics, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1991.

(Editor) Jacob Viner, Essays on the Intellectual History of Economics, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1991.

Managed Trade: The Case against Import Targets, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 1994.

(Editor) Trade in the Pre-modern Era, 1400-1700, E. Elgar (Brookfield, VT), 1996.

(Editor, with Robert C. Feenstra and Gene M. Grossman) The Political Economy of Trade Policy: Papers in Honor of Jagdish Bhagwati, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 1996.

Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1996.

Three Simple Principles of Trade Policy, AEI Press (Washington, DC), 1996.

Free Trade under Fire, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 2002, 2nd edition, 2005.

Contributor to books, including The Fortune Encyclopedia of Economics, edited by David R. Henderson, Warner Books (New York, NY), 1993; The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy, edited by Michael Bordo, Claudia Goldin, and Eugene White, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1998; and Eli Heckscher, Economic History and Economic Theory, edited by Rolf Henriksson and Mats Lundahl, MIT Press (Cambridge, MA), 2006. Contributor of articles to professional journals, including Economic Record, World Economy, Journal of Economic History, Explorations in Economic History, and American Economic Review. Contributor of book reviews to periodicals, including Wall Street Journal, World Trade Review, and Journal of Economic History. Book review editor, Journal of International Economics, 1992-96; editor, World Trade Review, 2005—.

SIDELIGHTS:

Economist Douglas A. Irwin is the author of a number of works about U.S. trade policy. In Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade, Irwin traces the evolution of modern trade theory and examines the debate on the merits of free trade. According to National Interest contributor David S. Bruce, Against the Tide "divides into accounts of the origins of free-trade doctrine and the controversies it has aroused—fifteen sections in all, examining in detail the ideas of leading theorists from Adam Smith to Harry Johnson. It depicts the turmoil of intellectual countercurrents and criticism as acutely as the positive arguments on behalf of free trade." Bruce continued: "The historical and intellectual connections play illuminatingly backward as much as incrementally forward." Writing in the Southern Economic Journal, Mario J. Crucini noted, "The structure of Irwin's book also serves to highlight its two main conclusions—first, that the writing of the classicists represented an abrupt improvement in the formalism of economic analysis and, second, that the forward progress of economic theory eventually revealed weaknesses in many of the arguments against free trade, eroding their appeal, while increasing the consensus in favor of free trade." "By showing us that even the most pragmatic, up-to-the-minute trade struggles have their antecedents in more rarefied intellectual debates going back several centuries," observed John V.C. Nye in Reason, "Irwin demonstrates how robust the concept of free trade has been." Nye added that Against the Tide "will not be an easy read for everyone. Still, by treating the evolution of trade theory in terms of conflicts between the leading academic theorists of the past 200 years, he makes the presentation lively."

In Free Trade under Fire, Irwin surveys the global economy and reviews criticisms of the free trade doctrine. According to Mia Mikic, writing in the New Zealand Economic Papers, "The book is carefully structured to cover the main new issues underpinning the contemporary discussion on the world trading system and free trade." "Irwin is particularly effective at addressing the meat-and-potatoes protectionism now advanced most vigorously by organized labor and the steel and textile lobbies," Brink Lindsey remarked in the National Review. "According to that mindset, imports are the enemy of ordinary, hard-working Americans: They threaten existing jobs and drive down wages by forcing us to compete with Third World nations where workers make only a few dollars a day. As Irwin shows, all the claims that imports reduce the total number of jobs by this much or that much are pure eyewash." Reviewing Free Trade under Fire in the Southern Economic Journal, Andrea Maneschi stated that Irwin's "splendid book summarizes an impressive amount of recent research on international trade and trade policy and is painstakingly documented with tables and charts illustrating his main contentions." "For all those who've been bamboozled by one or another of the accusations now hurled against open markets, or who doubt those accusations but don't have the facts and figures to respond to them effectively," Brink concluded, "Free Trade under Fire has come to the rescue."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, February, 1998, review of Against the Tide: An Intellectual History of Free Trade, p. 139.

Canadian Public Policy, September, 1997, review of Against the Tide, pp. 344-345.

Canadian Journal of Political Science, June, 1997, Ianik Marcil, review of Against the Tide, p. 412.

Choice, November, 1996, review of Against the Tide, p. 507; March, 2002, M. Veseth, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 1229.

Dissent, Ian Robinson, spring, 2002, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 102.

Economic History Review, February, 1997, Forrest Capie, review of Against the Tide, p. 207.

Economic Journal, September, 1997, review of Against the Tide, p. 1629; January, 1998, John Black, review of The Political Economy of Trade Policy: Papers in Honor of Jagdish Bhagwati, p. 209.

Economic Record, September, 1997, Peter E. Robertson, review of Against the Tide, p. 299.

Economist, December 7, 1996, review of Against the Tide, p. 5.

Ethics & International Affairs, October, 2002, Stephen L.S. Smith, "The Advantage to Trade," review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 127.

Foreign Affairs, September-October, 1996, Richard N. Cooper, review of Against the Tide, p. 138.

Independent Review, winter, 1997, George C. Leef, review of Against the Tide, p. 428.

International Affairs, July, 1997, Martin Wolf, review of Against the Tide, p. 574; October, 2002, Alan M. Rugman, review of Free Trade under Fire, pp. 909-910.

Journal of American History, December, 1997, Thomas W. Zeiler, review of Against the Tide, p. 1050.

Journal of Australian Political Economy, June, 2005, "Free Trade: Myths, Realities, and Alternatives," review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 138.

Journal of Economic History, December, 1998, Franck Schuurmans, review of Against the Tide, p. 1178.

Journal of Economic Literature, December, 1996, review of Against the Tide, p. 2011; June, 1997, Paul Krugman, review of Against the Tide, p. 770; December, 2002, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 1317; June, 2004, David Hummels, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 521.

Journal of International Economics, November, 1997, Robert E. Baldwin, review of Against the Tide, p. 530.

Library Journal, March 15, 2003, Susan C. Awe, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 64.

National Interest, fall, 1997, David S. Bruce, review of Against the Tide, p. 105.

National Review, Brink Lindsey, April 22, 2002, "Rough Trade," review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 46.

New York Times Book Review, September 15, 1996, Alan Tonelson, review of Against the Tide, p. 29.

New Zealand Economic Papers, Mia Mikic, June, 2002, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 131.

Publishers Weekly, May 27, 1996, review of Against the Tide, p. 59.

Reason, February, 1997, John V.C. Nye, review of Against the Tide, p. 60; July, 2003, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 59.

Regulation, summer, 1996, Stuart Anderson, review of Against the Tide, p. 77.

Southern Economic Journal, April, 1998, Mario J. Crucini, review of Against the Tide, p. 1025; January, 2003, Andrea Maneschi, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 745.

Times Literary Supplement, September 13, 1996, Edward N. Luttwak, review of Against the Tide, p. 28.

Wall Street Journal, July 1, 1996, Bruce Bartlett, review of Against the Tide, p. A11.

World Economy, July, 2004, review of Free Trade under Fire, p. 1143.