Frederic Bastiat, one of the greatest champions of liberty and peace and one of the best exponents of the values of libertarianism, declared a key mission of libertarian political economy: to explain that trade is mutually beneficial, whereas war is mutually destructive. Our mission is to fight against this false and dangerous system of political economy which considers the prosperity of one people as incompatible with the prosperity of another, which equates commerce with conquest and productive work with exploitative domination. So long as such ideas continue to be accepted, the world will never know twenty-four hours of peace. Even more, peace would be an incoherent and absurd idea. The persistence of such thoroughly debunked theories as the balance of trade -- the idea that the commerce of a nation is advantageous, in proportion as its exports exceed its imports -- has caused enormous harm to the world. Rejecting spurious doctrines IS NOT A MATTER OF POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, BUT OF SOUND ECONOMICS, regardless of what other views one has about the world. As the trade economist Paul Krugman argued, The conflict among nations that so many policy intellectuals imagine prevails is an illusion, but it is an illusion that can destroy the reality of mutual gains from trade. The simple ignorance of economic nationalists and their mercantilist proposals, ... is breathtaking. -- Tom G. Palmer, quoted from Peace, Love, & Liberty, 2014. [emphasis added] I personally find it frustrating to be accused of political partisanship when trying to explain simple economic concepts. Thank you, Tom, for this excellent, inspiring and educational essay.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 17:00:58 +0000
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