… is from page 254 of the 2012 revised edition of Steven Landsburg’s great 1993 book, The Armchair Economist:
Trade theory predicts, first, that if you protect American producers in one industry from foreign competition, then you must damage American producers in other industries. It predicts, second, that if you protect American producers in one industry from foreign competition, there must be a net loss in economic efficiency.
DBx: These propositions are well-established both theoretically and empirically. But as is true for almost every statement about empirical reality, exceptions can be imagined. (“The authors of physics texts confidently predict that someone who jumps naked and empty-handed from the top of the Empire State building will hit the ground with lethal force. But these so-called ‘experts,’ abstract theorists that they are, fail to consider that the person might land in a giant snowdrift – it does snow in New York! – or that if the person jumps as a hurricane is battering Manhattan the winds can carry the jumper into the East River, enabling the jumper to swim safely to shore. The ‘theory’ that says that it’s lethal to jump naked and empty handed from the top of skyscrapers overlooks too many real-world features to be taken seriously!”)
One characteristic of protectionists is that they routinely display utter lack of wisdom in judging the likelihood of these exceptions.
