October 07, 2016
Okay, that’s not exactly what this piece on trade as a way to promote world peace said, but it is a logical implication. The piece was presenting the argument that free trade is a way to promote world peace since countries that trade with each other don’t want war to get in the way of their prosperity.
Of course if we accept this argument, then it can’t possibly make sense to claim that protectionist measures that some groups like are okay. So the protectionist measure that prohibits foreign doctors from practicing in the United States unless they complete a U.S. residency program is an obstacle to world peace. The same applies to the ban on foreign dentists who have not completed a dental program in the U.S., or in recent years, Canada as well. In the same vein, patent and copyright protections, which can be equivalent to tariffs of many thousand percent, should also be seen as major barriers to world peace.
After all, no one has made the argument that a protectionist barrier does not threaten world peace if rich people like it, although a Nobel prize in economics probably awaits anyone who does make this case.
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