Washington, Oct 25: The public must be persuaded of the benefits of free trade to stem a growing tide of protectionism, the International Monetary Fund's new chief economist said on Friday. Raghuram Rajan told a Dallas conference on economic freedom that service-sector workers in the developed world, once free market supporters, were starting to turn against open borders as developing countries grow more sophisticated and competitive.

"The big change now is that many sectors that used to be non-traded are now becoming traded," Rajan told a conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas . A text of his remarks was released in Washington .
An accountant in the Philippines can do taxes for a client from another country via the Internet -- and for less money, he said.
"This may alter the balance of forces for free trade and even in developed countries," said Rajan, who co-authored the book Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists. Bureau Report