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… is the closing of David Hume’s essay, first published in 1759 or 1760, “Of the Jealousy of Trade [2]” (here from page 331 of the 1985 Liberty Fund collection of some of Hume’s essays, edited by the late Eugene F. Miller, Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary [3]) [3] (original emphasis):
I shall therefore venture to acknowledge, that, not only as a man, but as a BRITISH subject, I pray for the flourishing commerce of GERMANY, SPAIN, ITALY, and even FRANCE itself. I am at least certain, that GREAT BRITAIN, and all those nations, would flourish more, did their sovereigns and ministers adopt such enlarged and benevolent sentiments towards each other.
DBx: Indeed.
Among the most ironic misfortunes fueled by the many fallacies of economic nationalism is the weakening of the domestic economy that inevitably results from economic-nationalists’ attempt to strengthen that economy by obstructing commerce with foreigners.