Blinder on Inequality and Trade

Greg Mankiw points us towards this New York Times article by Alan Blinder on trade and inequality. Blinder writes,

Many Americans are justifiably distressed about rising income inequality, but foreign competition gets far too much of the blame. In fact, the best and most comprehensive studies of the inequality question assign international trade only a bit part in the drama. The main protagonists are all domestic, including changes in technology, the decline of unions, failures of public policy and changing social attitudes toward inequality.

A point that should be understood by all of us, not just Americans.