Here’s a letter to a student at West Virginia University.
Mr. Ethan Anderson
Mr. Anderson:
Thanks for your email.
Critical of what you describe as “economists’ stubborn disapproval of tariffs,” you ask: “Shouldn’t each case be considered on its own merits, case by case? Obviously sometimes unrestricted imports are good but just as obviously sometimes they are bad. Ditch the bad ones by letting government block them. Just keep the good ones.”
How far will you go to remain true to your premise that Americans’ peaceful spending be superintended by government “on its own merits, case by case”? Would you agree that it’s obvious that sometimes it’s good that people named “Ethan” change the ways in which they peacefully spend their incomes, but that sometimes it’s bad when “Ethans” change their pattern of spending? (After all, for example, if as your income rises you reduce your demand for fast food, you’ll destroy some jobs for some workers in fast-food restaurants.) Shouldn’t each case of “Ethans” changing their spending habits be considered on its own merits? Ditch the bad spending changes by “Ethans” by letting government block them. Just keep the good ones.
My above hypothetical, of course, is ridiculous. No sane person thinks that government officials possess the knowledge and incentives necessary to make a success of such a policy of superintending, case by case, the individual peaceful spending choices of all “Ethans.”
But my hypothetical is no more ridiculous than is yours. It is no more absurd to suppose that government officials can be trusted with the authority to superintended, with the power to override, the individual peaceful spending decisions of “Ethans” than it is to suppose that these same officials can be trusted with the authority to superintended, with the power to override, the individual peaceful spending decisions of all Americans.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
