Unless one is a hermit or is marooned on an uninhabited island, trade is what everyone does. Even children voluntarily trade cards, marbles, toys, etc., with other children. As grownups, we produce stuff to sell and that allows us to buy stuff that we consume but couldn’t produce. Most of us sell our labor in exchange for wages, and buy stuff we want. Even within a household exchange is ubiquitous even though it is not mediated using money.
If we couldn’t or wouldn’t trade, we’d be forced to consume only what we produce. That would be an all-round disaster; we’d all be desperately poor. Self-sufficiency is a recipe for poverty. Mohandas Gandhi was the prophet of the self-sufficiency religion, and we know how that worked out. Continue reading “On Trade and Trump’s Tariffs – Part 3”
Atanu Dey : Life is a Random Draw 