It is commonly assumed on the left and (increasingly) on the right that free markets foster — and that state regulation controls — the growth and market power of large corporations. Liberalized international trade and investment policies, in particular, are often criticized by market skeptics as a tool that large companies use to strengthen their dominant position at the expense of workers and potential competitors. Liberals and other free-market supporters, of course, argue the opposite: that free-market competition encourages "creative destruction" - that is, the economically valuable displacement of the old, with big business being displaced by newer competitors, as first described by economist Joseph Schumpeter — and thus serves as a powerful cap on large companies, which often lobby for and benefit from trade restrictions and other state regulations that discourage new entrants to the market.
Trade is indispensable to fostering greater levels of global economic development. As the OECD has written, “No country has lifted itself out of poverty without international trade.” This category consolidates GTIPA-member reports assessing the intersection of trade and economic development.
