World Bank Reconsiders Trade's Benefits to Poor [WaPo]

Paul Blustein of the Washington Post cites Senior Fellow William Cline in his recent article on the World Trade negotiations in Hong Kong and the role of the World Bank in international trade regulation.

From the article:

"This is a windfall for anti-globalists," said William R. Cline, a scholar at the Center for Global Development. "They can say even the World Bank doesn't think free trade would do much for reducing poverty."

Cline's study, published last year, projected that full trade liberalization would lead to significant increases in income for developing countries, with roughly 440 million people rising out of poverty. Although some critics have attacked his work, Cline is sticking by his estimates and said he is perplexed that the World Bank, given its influence, is now using assumptions that he regards as excessively conservative.