We here at Globalization Follies would have more confidence that globalization cheerleaders know what’s best for typical Americans – and their counterparts around the world – if they even occasionally displayed the dimmest understanding of these populations. But dreaming up self-serving, wildly off-base caricatures is so much easier than studying and learning.

What else can be made of University of Chicago professor Daniel Drezner’s recent observation that, “There is a need for someone to step into the breach and defend globalization using the language of the average Joe,” and concluding that, “If anyone can rise to this challenge, it should be Jagdish Bhagwati.”

Bhagwati’s supposed claim to the common touch? He’s “an esteemed international economist…a university professor at Columbia, and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.” Further burnishing Bhagwati’s populist credentials: “He has advised the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.”

Don’t get us wrong. Bhagwati could indeed rival Jimmy Kimmel as a Regular Guy. But teaching at an elite university and nesting in the symbolic heart of America’s semi-official establishment as prima facie evidence? We’re still shaking our heads.

At the same time, should anyone really be surprised by Drezner’s cluelessness about popular views of globalization? After all, large and growing numbers of Americans live in a thoroughly and increasingly globalized world, facing mounting foreign competition and weakened job security. Academics like Drezner and Bhagwati, in their lofty, tenure-protected ivory towers, do not.

  

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