Recent evidence from citation analysis (Mitra et al., World Dev 135:105076, 2020) suggests that research published in top economic journals is becoming more influential in the development discourse. In this article, we argue that this trend has nontrivial implications for the development discourse on trade in general. Based on an analysis of more than 400 papers published in high-impact economic journals between 1997 and 2017, we highlight three core trade narratives that stand for different biases apparent in the elite economic discourse on trade: “trade championing”, “Ignorance in a world full of nails” and “microfounding trade benefits”. Further insights derived from citation analysis of five development studies journals and a case-study-oriented approach that focusses on the reception of this particular trade debate in World Development suggests that these biased trade narratives are effectively transmitted into development research.

来自引文分析的最新证据（Mitra 等人，World Dev 135:105076, 2020）表明，发表在顶级经济期刊上的研究在发展话语中的影响力越来越大。在这篇文章中，我们认为这种趋势对一般贸易的发展话语具有重要意义。基于对 1997 年至 2017 年间在高影响力经济期刊上发表的 400 多篇论文的分析，我们强调了三种核心贸易叙述，它们代表了精英经济贸易话语中明显存在的不同偏见：“贸易拥护”、“贸易中的无知”世界上到处都是钉子”和“微创贸易利益”。