Causes of Wealth Stifled
30 April 2006
Editor, The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
With my Virginia vanity car-tag reading FRE TRDE, I am second-to-none in applauding your call for western governments to stop protecting and subsidizing farmers ("Rescuing Trade," April 30).
We mustn't, however, overlook the chief cause of poverty for people in the third-world - namely, their own governments' predatory policies. Chief among these are some of the world's most draconian restrictions on international trade. Until the likes of Cameroon, Paraguay, and Niger tear down their own high barriers to trade, their people's ability to benefit from exchange with the rest of the world will be minimal, regardless of what we do in the west.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
With my Virginia vanity car-tag reading FRE TRDE, I am second-to-none in applauding your call for western governments to stop protecting and subsidizing farmers ("Rescuing Trade," April 30).
We mustn't, however, overlook the chief cause of poverty for people in the third-world - namely, their own governments' predatory policies. Chief among these are some of the world's most draconian restrictions on international trade. Until the likes of Cameroon, Paraguay, and Niger tear down their own high barriers to trade, their people's ability to benefit from exchange with the rest of the world will be minimal, regardless of what we do in the west.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Friday February 16, 2007 at 5:04pm