The best way to look at tariffs or import quotas or other protectionist restraints is to forget about political boundaries. Political boundaries of nations may be important for other reasons, but they have no economic meaning whatever. Suppose, for example, that each...
protectionism
TGIF: A Public Choice Perspective on Trade
Let's say you could make a strictly economic case for government interference with people's trading activities, that is, with their ability to cooperate freely with others across the world. (I have no idea what "strictly economic case" even means, but stay with me.)...
TGIF: The Dangerous Deficit in Trade Understanding
I was chatting with my tobacconist the other day -- I have no rabbi, no priest, no minister, no imam, no chiropractor, and no lawyer, but I do have a tobacconist -- when it struck me that my trade deficit with him is astronomical. How could I have let this happen? For...
TGIF: Economic Nationalism: Elitism in Populist Clothing
My old friend and former American Conservative editor Dan McCarthy gets it all wrong about Donald Trump's "national security" tariffs on aluminum and steel. I won't discuss Dan's strictly economic case for the tariffs -- I've already discussed this -- but I want to...
TGIF: Trading Places
"What protection teaches us, is to do to ourselves in time of peace what enemies seek to do to us in time of war." --Henry George When Donald Trump can propose tariffs on imported steel, aluminum, washing machines, and solar-panels without being roundly booed off the...
On Tariffs and Trade (and Why Trade is Better for America)
I have a huge trade imbalance with Wal-Mart. Huge. I spend hundreds of dollars on groceries and other items every month, but never--not once--has Wal-Mart ever bought something from me. Maybe I should stop shopping at Wal-Mart as a way of sticking it to them. Or not....
Trump: ‘Trade Wars Are Good’
Yes, that's apparently a real quote from President Trump. This is likely the worst economic position he has staked out so far. On the plus side, if he puts his trade war optimism to the test and thus sparks the next recession, perhaps we won't have to hear contrived...
Trump: 'Trade Wars Are Good'
Yes, that's apparently a real quote from President Trump. This is likely the worst economic position he has staked out so far. On the plus side, if he puts his trade war optimism to the test and thus sparks the next recession, perhaps we won't have to hear contrived...
Blog
Podcasts
