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Are we in favor of economics/capitalism here or are we not? Because the economics literature is quite clear that international trade is beneficial to all invol
by mvc 5y ago
Are we in favor of economics/capitalism here or are we not?
Because the economics literature is quite clear that international trade is beneficial to all involved. It's what we insist that developing countries focus on exports when loaning them money. For many years, Taiwan has been the poster child that we point to when trying to change the ways of Cuba or Venezuela.
Are these principles so weak that we would allow a dictator who doesn't even have the support of his own people to shake them?
- blackbear_ 5y ago> Because the economics literature is quite clear that international trade is beneficial to all involved. If you narrowly focus on economics, yes. But what are other consequences, outside of economics? By outsourcing everything, you lose control. You allow uncontrollable external factors to affect you. You open yourself to be blackmailed. So in a way yes, those principles are weak because they are incomplete. They do not take into account the full range of possibilities that can happen in the real world.
- munk-a 5y agoIn theory by allowing private entities to run these businesses you're also losing control. If you need absolute control then what you're asking for is a command economy - I lean toward socialism but that's a bridge too far for me. Some supply chain instability is the result of allowing healthy economic activity especially when the modern goods we're talking about are immensely complex and require incredible specialization to reasonably manufacture.
- lazide 5y agoAny theory which does not take into account a country manipulating a market so it can get a monopoly on a key economic element for other countries, then use that to subjugate or conquer them is a hopelessly naive theory.
- maybelsyrup 5y ago> economics/capitalism lmao
- car_analogy 5y ago> international trade is beneficial to all involved But what kind of trade? Not unrestricted - Taiwan itself used protectionism to grow its industries when they were not yet able to compete on the global market: James K. Galbraith has stated that [..] " ... none of the world's most successful trading regions, including Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and now mainland China, reached their current status by adopting neoliberal trading rules." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage#Criticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage#Criticis...
- krnlpnc 5y ago> Are these principles so weak that we would allow a dictator who doesn't even have the support of his own people to shake them? In practice the principles don't matter too much. The reality is that industry has optimized for cost and converged on a small set of suppliers. The single points of failure introduced as a side-effect of this could certainly be exploited by a bad actor.
- CogitoCogito 5y ago> Because the economics literature is quite clear that international trade is beneficial to all involved. Maybe the literature is wrong?
- oneoff786 5y agoEconomics is clear on nothing. The curve maximizing behaviors for international trade have a few assumptions built in, e.g. that Taiwan does not get annexed by China and suddenly the trade incentives change horribly.
- mvc 5y agoI think the assumption is that when the system is threatened, the leaders of all the countries benefiting from said capitalism would grow a pair and do something. Because if they don't, and the system collapses, then what?
- oneoff786 5y agoThe system has already collapsed if war is happening. The opportunity cost of economic trade is dependence. There’s more at play than basic competitive advantages to actual trade.
- Apocryphon 5y agoThis entire theory has been disproved by modern China essentially becoming a Singapore writ large with a very bustling economy not only tied to but pivotal to the international trade system, but managing to remain authoritarian without liberalizing much.
- nicoburns 5y agoI would say that the economics literature is very clear that international trade is frequently not beneficial to all involved. Haiti would be a clear example of a case when it was not.