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The did it by implemented a tariffs and/or implicitly subsidized their exports by buying up US treasuries (pushing the value of their currencies down). Hong Ko
by crdoconnor 10y ago
The did it by implemented a tariffs and/or implicitly subsidized their exports by buying up US treasuries (pushing the value of their currencies down).
Hong Kong/Singapore just did the latter. China, Japan, Taiwan, SK all did/do the former too.
The IMF/World Bank thinks that countries should tear down trade barriers and take on external debt, not build them up and run a current account surplus.
- jstanley 10y agoIt's fascinating to me that "tear down trade barriers" is not part of the solution. I generally take it as an axiom that efficient markets benefit all participants, and increasing trade barriers would seem to make the market less efficient.
- pjc50 10y agoEfficiency means that the total numbers go up. Would you rather have the more efficient version where all the benefit goes to a small number of rich foreigners or the less efficient one with local distribution of benefits?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- crdoconnor 10y agoThose models don't take industrial development into account. If you assume comparative advantage is static and a 3rd world country will always be a 3rd world country, removing trade barriers appears to be more efficient. In the 1840s it was used to justify exporting food from Ireland while the Irish died in a famine: http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/food-exports-from-ireland-1846-47/ http://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/food... So it's not like this is news.