
Ricardo's Difficult Idea (1998) - gwern
http://web.mit.edu/krugman/www/ricardo.htm
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zkfyy7en1o
Specialization is centralizing. Centralized systems are arguably more fragile
(a negative, when reliability is a goal) and easier to actively leverage for
something I might not like (absolute power corrupts...). There is also a
patronizing aspect to 'free trade' that implies monopolies are the just
outcomes of meritocracies, which I consider patently false. Quite the
opposite: we constantly have to fight centralization of power, and 'free
trade' (a misnomer, IHMO), is a dangerous centralizing force at a global
level, which we have basically never had to reign in.

I find it amusing how often people who consider themselves libertarian, etc,
argue for some of the most fascist regimes imaginable.

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aidenn0
I think that part of the disconnect is that economists look on a much longer
term policy wise than non economists. There will be an affect on jobs, trade
deficits, &ct. of any free-trade act for at least a decade, and it's not
unreasonable to look at history and argue a time frame of ~50 years for
markets to approach an equilibrium.

If you reframe it the discussion as "lots of you will lose your jobs over the
next 50 years, but your grandchildren will have about the same employment rate
as you, and higher quality of living" then you can start to have a more
meaningful argument about how to manage the short-term side effects and the
long term benefits.

Similarly there's debate as to the long-term viability of monopolies, as well
as government regulation. If in the long term monopolies fall apart on their
own and government regulation turns to regulatory capture, then you can see
the economist's opposition to trust-busting.

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9mit3t2m9h9a
There is such thing as current relative advantage; and to change what your
relative advantage is, it may be useful to restrict some of the trade.

Also, having ten inefficient suppliers is often better than having one very
efficient monopoly — because it is usually also efficient at overcharging.

If the incentives are perfectly aligned and there is a medium term success or
failure to consider, relative advantage works as advertised; but this will be
closer to three equal startup co-founders dividing the work in the early
stages than to international trade.

