Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Rare Mention of Adam Smith That is Accurate

Michael Miller writes for the Acton Institute (here): ‘Who’s Afraid of Free Trade?’ and includes the following:

Few things are better for economic growth than free trade. Adam Smith demonstrated the mutual benefit of trade with his famous example of the brewer, butcher, and baker. The butcher has more than enough meat, so he trades it for beer and bread, and vice versa. When people are allowed to trade, everyone is better off. The same thing that happens in a city market takes place globally. Global markets allow more people to trade more goods and services, increasing the amount of goods and lowering prices. Trade creates opportunities for farmers and producers in the developing world and creates more markets for U.S. producers to sell their wares abroad.”

Comment
Correct. Be even better if the USA and Europe did not practise protectionism for their farmers to keep out ‘developing world’ exports of food and other produce, for them to earn dollars to buy manufactured goods and technology from America and Europe.

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