An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
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Monday, July 4, 2016
Lord Keynes — The Cult of Free Trade in a Nutshell
Debunking another economic myth.
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I'm glad heterodox economists are starting to question free trade. I used to feel all alone on the issue.
workers are fungible, and will be re-trained easily and moved
Right. Some workers are fungible and easily re-trained and easily moved (the young and un-attached), some are not (older workers with family ties and specialized skills).
The argument for pure free trade is built on sand.
Right. "Imports are real benefits and exports are real costs" only holds for scarce goods, like oil. It doesn't hold for knowledge products. You don't lose knowledge when you export a knowledge product, to the contrary, the more knowledge product you make, the more knowledge you gain. You do lose knowledge when knowledge industries move offshore.
I'm glad heterodox economists are starting to question free trade. I used to feel all alone on the issue.
ReplyDeleteworkers are fungible, and will be re-trained easily and moved
Right. Some workers are fungible and easily re-trained and easily moved (the young and un-attached), some are not (older workers with family ties and specialized skills).
The argument for pure free trade is built on sand.
Right. "Imports are real benefits and exports are real costs" only holds for scarce goods, like oil. It doesn't hold for knowledge products. You don't lose knowledge when you export a knowledge product, to the contrary, the more knowledge product you make, the more knowledge you gain. You do lose knowledge when knowledge industries move offshore.