Dani Rodrik is somebody who, for a long time, has been cautioning about the very gung-ho attitude many economists had towards liberalising trade, including financial flows. For a long time, certainly up until the financial crisis and for a bit afterwards, he was a bit of an outlier among economists because, for most economists, more free trade is without question better.

I think now a lot more people would take that point of view. I think I, for one, was much too relaxed about the effects of globalisation and how quickly it was happening and what effects that might have on the economy and people’s livelihoods. It’s not that I’ve changed my mind about it being a good thing—but I’ve become much more cautious about how quickly change happens and the need to be much more nuanced rather than just saying, ‘More trade is better.