As Compared to What?
25 March 2006
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Katharine Weber blames American outsourcing for the deaths of children working in third-world factories that catch fire ("The Factories of Lost Children," March 25). These deaths are heartrending. But Ms. Weber should ask how these children would live - and die - without globalization.
How many children would starve to death? How many would be killed by diseases or animals encountered while toiling on subsistence farms or hunting in the wild? How many would die in house fires (whose frequencies are now reduced because income from factory work enables these children and their families to live in better houses)? Not trading with such people will only make them poorer and their lives even more precarious.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Katharine Weber blames American outsourcing for the deaths of children working in third-world factories that catch fire ("The Factories of Lost Children," March 25). These deaths are heartrending. But Ms. Weber should ask how these children would live - and die - without globalization.
How many children would starve to death? How many would be killed by diseases or animals encountered while toiling on subsistence farms or hunting in the wild? How many would die in house fires (whose frequencies are now reduced because income from factory work enables these children and their families to live in better houses)? Not trading with such people will only make them poorer and their lives even more precarious.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Saturday December 9, 2006 at 10:46am