|
Glen
Tenney's Online Resources |
The articles listed here stem primarily
from an article written by Paul Craig Roberts and Senator Charles Schumer in
early 2004 that claimed that free international trade is not desirable in cases
where capital is able to move freely across borders. The articles are listed in
reverse order, with the most recent article listed first. While the original
Roberts-Schumer article, published in the popular press by The New York
Times, is not listed here, its essential contents are restated in an
arguably better fashion by Roberts and the other articles that are
listed here.
Jobs are
Moving Abroad
By Hans Sennholz |
|
Can Trade Bring
Poverty?
By Robert Murphy |
In
this follow-up to earlier articles, Murphy does a wonderful job of showing that
outsourcing makes Americans wealthier on net whenever foreign workers require
a wage that is lower than the next-best wage that the American workers can
earn. This is the case because American firms will presumably not hire
foreign workers unless their wages are lower than the wage at which American
workers will accept. (2004, 4 pages) |
The
Economics of Outsourcing
By William L. Anderson |
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Fewer Workers, More
Production By Jude Blanchette |
Blanchette
notes that output and productivity are the keys to true prosperity, not more
jobs in the economy. (2004, 3 pages) |
|
By Jude Blanchette |
According
to Blanchette, the downsizing done by specific firms is good for the economy
in general. If firms do not shed excess workers, they will pay the price in
competitive global labor and goods markets. (2004, 3 pages) |
|
Capital
Exports and Free Trade By Guido Hulsmann |
In
this short article, Hulsmann shows how Ricardo’s well-known assumption
that only raw materials and consumer goods were traded across borders (and
that labour and capital were not mobile between countries) was only an
assumption but not a condition for the validity of his free-trade argument.
Hulsmann artfully relates how Mises showed that the benefits of free-trade do
not rely on Ricardo’s assumptions on labour and capital mobility.
(2004, 5 pages) |
|
Free
Trade and Factor Mobility By Robert Murphy |
Murphy
addresses, in this article, the question of whether it is possible for people
within a country to be harmed by innovations that cost people their jobs.
While he concludes that it is theoretically possible for this to happen, he
demonstrates that specific trade restrictions would still make the situation
even worse for the people in such a nation on average. (2004, 6 pages) |
|
By Richard C. B. Johnsson |
A
Swedish Economist, Johnsson provides examples showing that it is not possible
for a single country to have absolute disadvantages in all lines of business
as long as there is free movement of labor, money and goods. (2004, 2 pages) |
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Clarifications
on the Case for Free Trade By Paul Craig Roberts |
In
this article, which is in response to comments on an earlier article on
certain exceptions to Ricardo’s work on international trade, Roberts
restates the case that the benefits from free trade are dependent on the absence
of capital and labor mobility. (2004, 2 pages) |
|
A
Reply to Schumer and Roberts By George Reisman |
In
this reply to Senator Schumer and Paul Craig Roberts’ original article
on free trade, Reisman argues that the gains to consumers from free trade are
always, necessarily, greater than the losses to the firms that are required
to compete with foreign producers and foreign workers, thus showing that the
argument that factors of production must by immobile is not part of the
argument in favor of free-trade. (2004, 2 pages) |
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