> A world in which we import all our food from South America is almost certainly going to be one with higher GDP than one in which we subsidize farming in the U

> A world in which we import all our food from South America is almost certainly going to be one with higher GDP than one in which we subsidize farming in the U.S. This isn't true. GDP measures price, not value. For a given pound of beans, slave labor and a lower sticker price has lower GDP, whereas a well paid laborer and a higher sticker price for the same product is higher GDP . (Ignoring the complication that foreign labor might not meet the D in GDP) GDP is dumb, in that producing more value at lower cost looks like lower GDP.