26 April 2000
Text: U.S. Economists Sign Letter Supporting China's WTO Entry
(Economists site "enormous benefits" of open markets) (1380) America's top economists -- including 13 Nobel Prize winners -- signed an "open letter to the American people" strongly supporting China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). "China's WTO accession will encourage economic growth in ways that can benefit its trading partners, including the United States, directly," the letter signed by 149 economists said. It will also help sustain China's market-oriented economic reforms, they added. The White House released the economists' letter during an April 25 press briefing which featured Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, Gene Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council, Martin Baily, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, and Robert Solow, a Nobel laureate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Following is the text of the letter: (begin text) OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE Recognizing the enormous benefits of open international markets, we, the undersigned economists, strongly support China's entry into the World Trade Organization. China's entry will raise living standards in both China and its trading partners. By acceding to the WTO, China will open its borders to international competition, lock in and deepen its commitment to economic reform, and promote economic development and freedoms. At the same time, China's accession will create new opportunities for American businesses, farmers, and workers. China's entry into the WTO will help sustain the process of market-oriented economic reform that began there two decades ago. This process, which has transformed China's economy by steadily removing power from the hands of central planners, has yielded rapid growth and lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. It has helped promote individual liberty in China, by giving China's citizens greater choice about how they work and live. WTO accession will open China more fully to new technologies that foster communication, so that Chinese people can more readily obtain and exchange information and ideas. Moreover, the commitment to abide by WTO rules can help promote further reform and advance the rule of law in China. China's WTO accession will encourage economic growth in ways that can benefit its trading partners, including the United States, directly. It will provide firms outside China with better access to one of the world's largest, most dynamic markets, improving the allocation of resources around the world. China has agreed to reduce wide-ranging protection, including many institutional barriers that are difficult to measure, but extremely effective in blocking trade. Adherence to WTO rules, including those for settling disputes, will reduce uncertainty for firms that already do business in China and may encourage others to enter the market with more confidence about the future. For all these reasons, we believe that the United States must stand firmly behind China's entry into the World Trade Organization. Martin N. Baily, Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers Robert Z. Lawrence, Member, Council of Economic Advisers Kenneth J. Arrow (Nobel), Stanford University Milton Friedman (Nobel), Hoover Institution, Stanford University John C. Harsanyi (Nobel), University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence R. Klein (Nobel), University of Pennsylvania Robert E. Lucas (Nobel), University of Chicago Robert C. Merton (Nobel), Harvard University Merton H. Miller (Nobel), University of Chicago Franco Modigliani (Nobel), Massachusetts Institute of Technology Paul A. Samuelson (Nobel), Massachusetts Institute of Technology William F. Sharpe (Nobel), Stanford University Herbert A. Simon (Nobel), Carnegie Mellon University Robert M. Solow (Nobel), Massachusetts Institute of Technology James Tobin (Nobel), Yale University Michael J. Boskin (CEA), Stanford University Martin Feldstein (CEA), Harvard University/NBER Paul McCracken (CEA), University of Michigan Raymond J. Saulnier (CEA), Columbia University Charles L. Schultze (CEA), Brookings Institution Beryl W. Sprinkel (CEA), B. W. Sprinkel Economics Joseph E. Stiglitz (CEA), Brookings Institution Laura D'Andrea Tyson (CEA), University of California, Berkeley Murray Weidenbaum (CEA), Washington University Janet L. Yellen (CEA), University of California, Berkeley Henry J. Aaron, The Brookings Institution Joshua Aizenman, Dartmouth College Joseph G. Altonji, Northwestern University James E. Anderson, Boston College Jagdish Bhagwati, Columbia University Kyle W. Bagwell, Columbia University Richard E. Baldwin, Graduate Institute of International Studies Robert E. Baldwin, University of Wisconsin Laurence M. Ball, Johns Hopkins University Claude E. Barfield, American Enterprise Institute C. Fred Bergsten, Institute for International Economics Jeffrey Berstrand, University of Notre Dame Andrew B. Bernard, Dartmouth College Rebecca M. Blank, University of Michigan Alan S. Blinder, Princeton University Bruce A. Blonigen, University of Oregon Gordon M. Bodnar, Johns Hopkins University Barry P. Bosworth, Brookings Institution David F. Bradford, Princeton University William C. Brainard, Yale University Gary Burtless, The Brookings Institution William A. Brock, University of Wisconsin, Madison Christopher D. Carroll, Johns Hopkins University Karl E. Case, II, Wellesley College Menzie D. Chinn, University of California, Santa Cruz Gregory Chow, Princeton University Philip J. Cook, Duke University Richard N. Cooper, Harvard University Vincent P. Crawford, University of California, San Diego Donald R. Davis, Columbia University Tom E. Davis, Cornell University Alan V. Deardorff, University of Michigan I.M. (Mac) Destler, Inst. for International Economics/Univ. of Md Kathryn M. Dominguez, University of Michigan Rudiger W. Dornbusch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Charles M. Engel, University of Washington Robert Feenstra, University of California, Davis Gary Fields, Cornell University Robert W. Fogel, University of Chicago Kristin J. Forbes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Jeffrey A. Frankel, Harvard University Morris Goldstein, Institute for International Economics Robert J. Gordon, Northwestern University Edward M. Graham, Institute for International Economics Lyle E. Gramley, Mortgage Bankers Association Wayne B. Gray, Clark University Gene M. Grossman, Princeton University Gregory Grossman, University of California, Berkeley Daniel S. Hamermesh, University of Texas Eric A. Hanushek, University of Rochester John R. Harris, Boston University Oliver Hart, Harvard University Kevin A. Hassett, American Enterprise Institute Robert H. Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison Walter P. Heller, University of California, San Diego Donald D. Hester, University of Wisconsin, Madison Gary Hulbauer, Institute for International Economics Douglas Irwin, Dartmouth University D. Gale Johnson, University of Chicago Dale W. Jorgenson, Harvard University Lawrence F. Katz, Harvard University Peter Kenen, Princeton University Miles Kimball, University of Michigan Alvin K. Klevorick, Yale University Michael M. Knetter, Dartmouth College Lawrence B. Krause, University of California, San Diego Michael Kremer, Brookings Institution/Harvard University Stefan Krieger, Yale University Anne O. Krueger, Stanford University Nicholas R. Lardy, Brookings Institution Lawrence Lau, Stanford University Philip I. Levy, Yale University Robert E. Litan, Brookings Institution Ying L. Lowrey, George Washington University Lisa M. Lynch, Tufts University Paul W. MacAvoy, Yale University Louis J. Maccini, Johns Hopkins University Burton Malkiel, Princeton University N. Gregory Mankiw, Harvard University Catherine I. Mann, Institute for International Economics Richard C. Marston, University of Pennsylvania Keith E. Maskus, University of Colorado Andrew M. Mclennan, University of Minnesota Bruce Meyer, Northwestern University Thomas G. Moore, The Hoover Institution, Stanford University Herve Moulin, Rice University Alicia H. Munnell, Boston College David B. Neumark, Michigan State University Donald A. Nichols, University of Wisconsin, Madison William A. Niskanen, Cato Institute Marcus J. Noland, Institute for International Economics Maurice Obstfeld, University of California, Berkeley Howard Pack, University of Pennsylvania Janet Rothberg Pack, University of Pennsylvania John L. Palmer, Syracuse University Christina Paxon, Princeton University Dwight Perkins, Harvard University George L. Perry, Brookings Institution Edmund S. Phelps, Columbia University Adam S. Posen, Institute for International Economics John M. Quigley, University of California, Berkeley Alice M. Rivlin, Brookings Institution Ken Rogoff, Harvard University Andrew K. Rose, University of California, Berkeley Susan Rose-Ackerman, Yale University Robert W. Rosenthal, Boston University Jeffrey D. Sachs, Harvard University Gary R. Saxonhouse, University of Michigan Thomas C. Schelling, University of Maryland Richard Schmalensee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology John Karl Scholz, University of Wisconsin, Madison Matthew Shapiro, University of Michigan Robert J. Shimer, Princeton University Matthew J. Slaughter, Dartmouth College Timothy M. Smeeding, Syracuse University Robert W. Staiger, University of Wisconsin Robert M. Stem, University of Michigan Alan M. Taylor, University of California Davis Christopher Udry, Yale University Shang-Jin Wei, Brookings Institution/Harvard University David E. Weinstein, Columbia University Marina v.N. Whitman, University of Michigan Jeffrey G. Williamson, Harvard University Paul Wonnacott, Middlebury College (Nobel)= Nobel Laureates (CEA) = Former Council of Economic Advisers Chairs Affiliations are provided for identification purposes only. Total Number of Signatories: 149 Economists, including 13 Nobel Laureates and 10 Former CEA Chairs. (end text) (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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