Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Why People Don't Trust Economists who talk about "The Benefits of Free Trade"
by Ken Houghton
Conspicuous by its absence is an indicator that the winners will (or should) in any way compensate the losers.*
An alternate view from one of Tom's favorite authors can be found here.
UPDATE: Pynchon presents a timeframe, which gives the lie to Easterly's claim:
*Credit where due, he refers to them here as "victims."
Of course, there could very well be some unemployment of workers who know only the old technology—like the original Luddites—and this unemployment will be excruciating to its victims. But workers as a whole are better off with more powerful output-producing technology available to them.
--William Easterly, The Elusive Quest for Growth, p. 54 (MIT pb, 2002)
Conspicuous by its absence is an indicator that the winners will (or should) in any way compensate the losers.*
An alternate view from one of Tom's favorite authors can be found here.
UPDATE: Pynchon presents a timeframe, which gives the lie to Easterly's claim:
But it's important to remember that the target even of the original assault of l779, like many machines of the Industrial Revolution, was not a new piece of technology. The stocking-frame had been around since 1589.
*Credit where due, he refers to them here as "victims."
Labels: Economic Development, history repeated, literature
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"But workers as a whole are better off with more powerful output-producing technology available to them."
Yes. Those who still have jobs. And that's why people don't trust economists who talk about the benefits of free trade. They never seem to remember that a lot of people will not have jobs, or will have jobs that pay a lot less than they were making. They never seem to remember that societies do not exist for the benefit of economies and economists; rather, economies exits to benefit societies.
Economists always seem to forget the people.
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Yes. Those who still have jobs. And that's why people don't trust economists who talk about the benefits of free trade. They never seem to remember that a lot of people will not have jobs, or will have jobs that pay a lot less than they were making. They never seem to remember that societies do not exist for the benefit of economies and economists; rather, economies exits to benefit societies.
Economists always seem to forget the people.
# posted by 
: Sun Apr 06, 11:23:00 AM
: Sun Apr 06, 11:23:00 AM << Home
