Quotation of the Day…

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… is from page 120 of Eamonn Butler’s excellent 2021 book, An Introduction to Trade & Globalisation:

Economic change is a constant process. Candlemakers were put out of business by gaslights, livery stables by motor vehicles, typesetters by computers, and many shops by online retailers. Artificial intelligence will revolutionise yet more industries. But despite the disruption brought for some, such progress delivers huge improvements to the lives of the general public – which is the whole purpose of production in the first place. Trade simply accelerates this inevitable and beneficial process.

DBx: Yes. But I pick one tiny nit: This process is inevitable only if markets are sufficiently free and property rights sufficiently secure. (I’m sure that Eamonn agrees.)