This coming Thursday, October 7th, the CATO Institute and The Economist are sponsoring a conference on Trade and the Future of American Workers. The conference organizers note that:
Controversial in the best of times, trade has become even more so in the aftermath of the 2001 recession and in light of the unusually slow job growth during the recovery. Critics blame trade in general and foreign outsourcing in particular for "shipping American jobs overseas," a theme we can expect to hear in the fall political season. Is it trade or other factors that are behind the unusual U.S. labor market? Which type of jobs will replace those being lost? And what should Congress and the president do, if anything, about trade and outsourcing?
The conference will feature Sen. Chuck Hagel, Roger Ferguson, Vice Chairman, Federal Reserve Board and Gregory Mankiw, Chairman, President’s Council of Economic Advisers.