Peer Response

Central Point

The pivotal point that Bastiat was trying to make was that governments are

only crippling their own economy through bans and regulations that are posed on

free trade. Our text argues that “free trade based on the principle of comparative

advantage, the world economy can achieve a more efficient allocation of resources

and a higher level of material well-being than it can without free trade” (McConnell,

Pg. 442). As the author mentions that we do not turn our nose up at the sun when it

provides us light, so why should we ban the benefits of free trade when they offer us

better goods at lower prices?

I agree with Bastiat

I whole heartedly agree that free trade is essential to the growth of the

economy there are several arguments to support tariffs such as “Military Self-

Sufficiency Argument, Diversification-for-Stability Argument, Infant Industry

Argument, Protection-against-Dumping Argument, etc.” the list goes on however

none can logically defeat the argument that supports free trade and its benefit to our

economy (McConnell, Pg. 461).

References:

McConnell, Campbell, Stanley Brue, Sean Flynn, Macroeconomics Principles,

Problems, & Policies, 20th Edition. McGraw-Hill Learning Solutions, 01/2014,

VitalBook file.