Quotation of the Day…

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… is from page xvii of Anne Krueger’s 2020 book, International Trade: What Everyone Needs to Know:

With time, the disadvantages of the types of protection most developing countries were pursuing became more and more evident. I was fortunate enough to have opportunities to undertake research in India, South Korea, and Turkey during the first several decades after graduate school. I could witness and learn about not only the high costs and low growth associated with heavy protection in India and Turkey but also the phenomenal success and growth in South Korea and other developing countries with open trade regimes. The contrast between an economy’s performance under import substitution (as protection was called) and takeoff after removal of trade barriers and other reforms was dramatic.

DBx: Yep.

Only in the minds of protectionists do the people of a country gain greater access to goods and services as a result of their government coercively obstructing their access to goods and services. Only in the minds of protectionists do government officials have greater knowledge than is used in competitive markets of the details of how best to allocate resources. Only in the minds of protectionists does 10-3=15 and godlike knowledge can be possessed by mere mortals.

Of course, none of these outcomes occur in the real world.