Goods and services

Mercantilists like Mun and Malynes argued that one country’s loss is another country’s gain. Smith on absolute advantage, Ricardo on comparative advantage and Heckscher and Ohlin on relative endowments all maintained that gains from trade can accrue to all partners and that economic exchange should not be treated as a species of war. Free trade was in the air in the late nineteenth century. It re-emerged in the post-war reconstruction that witnessed the bonfire of the tariffs under the guidance of the GATT and the WTO. As the negotiating parties have become more numerous and the grounds for disagreement have multiplied, so economic nationalism and beggar-thy-neighbour has re-emerged. Porter on entrepreneurship and Lenin on imperialism have become a part of the debate.