Trade's Reasonableness
29 August 2006
The Editor, Washington Times
To the Editor:
Ben Bernanke rightly looks at globalization's big picture ("Bernanke on globalization," August 29). Globalization does more than improve people's material standard of living. It also breaks down irrational prejudices - prejudices that stunt and deform the growth of civilization. Historian Will Durant said it well when he explained how foreign commerce sparked ancient Athens' rise to greatness:
"The crossroads of trade are the meeting place of ideas, the attrition ground of rival customs and beliefs; diversities beget conflict, comparison, thought; superstitions cancel one another and reason begins."*
Quite literally, trade restrictions are unreasonable.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* Will Durant, The Life of Greece (1939), p. 135.
The Editor, Washington Times
To the Editor:
Ben Bernanke rightly looks at globalization's big picture ("Bernanke on globalization," August 29). Globalization does more than improve people's material standard of living. It also breaks down irrational prejudices - prejudices that stunt and deform the growth of civilization. Historian Will Durant said it well when he explained how foreign commerce sparked ancient Athens' rise to greatness:
"The crossroads of trade are the meeting place of ideas, the attrition ground of rival customs and beliefs; diversities beget conflict, comparison, thought; superstitions cancel one another and reason begins."*
Quite literally, trade restrictions are unreasonable.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* Will Durant, The Life of Greece (1939), p. 135.
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday May 15, 2007 at 10:34am