The Classical Argument for Free International Trade
It is interesting that Mises, in Human Action, does not systematically present the case for free trade. Rather, he criticizes the opponents of free trade. His criticism consists in identifying their narrow economic interests in opposing free trade. Most notably, existing producers, who have adjusted to a preexisting tariff system, are most opposed to the elimination of tariffs. Mises employs a non-Marxist class analysis to analyze the support for and opposition to free trade. Murray Rothbard also employs non-Marxist class analysis in his analysis of political economy issues. (Question to participants: should classical liberals be comfortable with employing class analysis? Is it anti-individualistic?) Mises didn’t present a separate defense of free international trade because he viewed international trade as an extension of domestic laissez faire, and, ultimately, covered by the argument for Freedom more broadly. (See the Index for Human Action.) Mises was cosmopolitan in his political economy analysis. That attitude jars with modern nationalist sentiment. Who are the modern cosmopolitans? Is the Argentine President a cosmopolitan? In that vein, what is the best argument for a free trade agreement between the United States and Argentina? Could you convince President Trump? (Final bonus question: which is the most cosmopolitan Institution in the world today?)
Horario:
Argentina GMT-3: 12:30 hs
El Paso, Texas GMT -6: 09:30 hs
Gerald O’Driscoll is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. He is a widely quoted expert on international monetary and financial issues. Previously the director of the Center for International Trade and Economics at the Heritage Foundation, O’Driscoll was senior editor of the annual Index of Economic Freedom, copublished by Heritage and the Wall Street Journal. O’Driscoll has also served as vice president and director of policy analysis at Citigroup. Before that, he was vice president and economic adviser at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He also served as staff director of the congressionally mandated Meltzer Commission on international financial institutions. O’Driscoll has taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Iowa State University; and New York University. He is widely published in leading publications, including the Wall Street Journal. He appears frequently on national radio and television, including Fox Business News, CNBC, and Bloomberg. He is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society and is president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education. O’Driscoll holds a BA in economics from Fordham University and an MA and PhD in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Edgardo Zablotsky holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. He is President and full Professor of the University of CEMA, member of the National Academy of Education, the Mont Pelerin Society, and of the Academic Boards of Fundación Libertad y Progreso, Fundación Atlas (Argentina), and Fundación Acton (Argentina). He is the Executive Director of the UCEMA Friedman Hayek Center for the Study of a Free Society. Zablotsky is a distinguished consultant and lecturer in public policy in the educational area; he focuses his interest in two fields of research: non-welfare philanthropy and school choice.