Protectionism and Free Trade

Bob discusses common talking points that pro-free-trade economists often use when making the case against tariffs.

Critics of free markets claim that the 1980s and 90s were near-pure laissez-faire when, in reality, the regulatory state only got stronger. 

The iron law of prohibition states that the more you attempt to enforce prohibition, the more dangerous and the more potent the drugs actually become.

While the US Constitution made the US a large free trade zone, prohibiting states from erecting trade barriers against each other, it also empowered the central government to erect tariffs on goods imported from outside the country. 

Tariffs don‘t just raise consumer prices. They also affect capital flows and, on numerous occasions, have triggered stock market crises. What tariffs don‘t bring is prosperity.

Mises Fellow Kristoffer Hansen joins Bob to discuss the controversy surrounding Mises' perspective on fractional reserve banking and free banking.

One of the oldest and most harmful economic fallacies is the belief that, at best, economic exchange is a zero-sum activity. However, free exchange in an unhampered market is always positive.

The Old Right was a principled band of intellectuals and activists, who fought the “industrial regimentation” of the New Deal. They loathed tariffs and saw protectionism as a species of socialist planning.

While the US Constitution made the US a large free trade zone, prohibiting states from erecting trade barriers against each other, it also empowered the central government to erect tariffs on goods imported from outside the country. 

The political zeitgeist is to embrace protectionism, leading some who support free trade to embrace open borders. However, as Murray Rothbard explained, people and societies are complex entities and what may work for trade does not work for open immigration.