If our goal is to end poverty, shouldn't we be trying to open free markets? That seems to be what has ended poverty for hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people. Look, for example, at China. In the late l970s, the Chinese government represented 100% of GDP, and that led to the biggest famine in the history of humankind. Since that time, the share of the Chinese economy represented by government has dropped to about 33%, stock markets and private property have been legalized, and the government has allowed free enterprise zones. As a result, approximately 800 million people in 35 to 40 years have been lifted out of extreme poverty into the middle class.
If our goal is to end extreme poverty, which we all agree falls disproportionately on women, then ought we not to be promoting free markets and free trade?