11/11/2008 10:05:09 pm
Openness and Free Economy Bring More Stability. Today, here in Belgium, most everything is closed. Today, 90 years ago, World War I ended - at 11 o′clock on the 11th of the 11th month 1918. But the European Parliament is up and running, as well as various seminars - not least on financial markets.

I read in the leatest edition of the great Swedish magazine Neo some facts that should make today?s protectionists think again. First, one study that shows that a country that increases trade as a share of GDP by 10 per cent decreases the risk of lower growth or crises by a third. Second, another study shows that 26 out of 40 countries that opened up their economies in the 1990s had lower variations in their growth rates.

Counter-intuitive, perhaps, but even more important facts because of it.