Or, if a government tries to protect them, the entire country will be outcompeted in an ugly, bloody process that can take the best part of a century and leave

Or, if a government tries to protect them, the entire country will be outcompeted in an ugly, bloody process that can take the best part of a century and leave millions of people behind. Yes, markets work. But people insist on ignoring attrition against all the evidence. It's an almost religious belief.