Allison Schrager, Columnist

Economists Are Wrong a Lot But Not About Tariffs

Some things need to change. But increasing trade was not the problem, and restricting it is not the solution.

December 12, 2024 at 10:00 AM UTC

Allison Schrager is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering economics. A senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, she is author of “An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.”

A modern trade miracle.
Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America

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Many Americans are fed up with experts, and I am right there with them. I get the desire to burn it all down, I really do — except when it comes to the subject I am expert in: economics.

Specifically, there is a growing consensus that economists are wrong about free trade, which we almost universally support but which has made life worse for many US workers. This disconnect weighs on me. Could I be as out-of-touch and mistaken as the experts I too am starting to doubt?