LETTER FROM THE EDITOR.

The paper introduces a series of articles about economics and international trade. The gap in income and wealth between the rich and the poor countries is ever widening. Ha-Joon Chang is a trade economist and historian who strongly contends that at the heart of trade theory lies a flaw when it comes to developing countries. Infant industries often need protecting, he argues. In fact, every rich economy today protected its infant industries on its way to development in the 1800s and through much of the early 1900s. Thomas Palley, a Washington economist who works for George Soros's Open Society Institute, also maintains that world trade is at a turning point. He also believes that poor countries must become more willing to accept labor and environmental standards. He believes it is up to Democrats in Washington to take the lead on the issue. Michael Perelman in his article traces several historical cases to show how tight patent laws have harmed technological progress in the U.S. The issue also features an interview with a French doctoral student, Gilles Raveaud, by an American economist, Richard McIntyre, about an eruption in the French academic establishment that is being taken very seriously in France.