… is a text sent to me this morning by GMU Econ PhD candidate Jon Murphy:
I have a proposal. We no longer call protectionists that name. It gives them too much credit. I propose that we instead call them “scarcicists” since they peddle scarcity.
DBx: Scarcity is an unavoidable and widespread reality. Yet genuinely productive economic activity makes scarcity less biting. And although it never does, and never will, eliminate scarcity altogether, genuinely productive economic activity increases abundance relative to scarcity. Genuinely productive economic activity makes us richer.
In stark contrast, mercantilists and other protectionists endorse policies that increase scarcity – that reduce abundance – that enrich the few at the greater expense of the many. “Scarcisism” makes us poorer.
