Free-trade economists use Bad Math

Full-blown free-trade looks great on paper. However, there are more
factors to measure by than just total GDP. GDP may be the easiest to
model or measure, but it is not necessarily the most important for
overall quality of life. Things such as stability and equality should
also be weighed in, but economists often ignore it because it is more
difficult to quantify.

Free-trade creates both more job churn (fields come and go faster),
and risk economic bubbles, due to things like big trade imbalances
(which we have a whopper of in the US).

Equality is another. Many researches have concluded that free-trade
benefits the wealthy more than the middle class. This may be why the
middle class has been slipping of late compared to both the poor and
the rich. It is socking it to the middle.

And there are additional factors that should be considered, such as
environmental damage and labor laws (40-hour work weeks, child labor,
etc.)

Raw free-trade is only the most logical if you use an oversimplified
model that measures *only* GDP. Free-trade economists are making the
logical fallacy that the easiest to measure/model variable is also the
most important. It is not necessarily. It sounds presumptuous to say
so many economists are messing up, but it is true. They are screwing
up their math, perhaps due to big-biz influence and bias.

The economists' approach almost reminds me of Apple's products versus
Toshiba's. Toshiba may include lots of features for a fairly low
price. However, customers tend to reject Toshiba and pick Apple
instead because Apple knows what people want and knows how to put them
in the right combination; while Toshiba simply counts the quantity of
features and think that is enough. Toshiba delivers quantity, but
Apple delivers what the users, voters, and citizens really want
because they focus on and understand what users really want. If free-
trade economists don't shape up, then they risk the same fate as
Toshiba products.

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Free-trade economists use Bad Math
    ... factors to measure by than just total GDP. ... Free-trade creates both more job churn, ... Free-trade economists are making the ... customers tend to reject Toshiba and pick Apple ...
    (sci.econ)
  • Re: Free-trade economists use Bad Math
    ... factors to measure by than just total GDP. ... Free-trade economists are making the ... customers tend to reject Toshiba and pick Apple ... externalities, and in integrating them into an analysis. ...
    (sci.econ)
  • Re: Free-trade economists use Bad Math
    ... factors to measure by than just total GDP. ... Free-trade economists are making the ... customers tend to reject Toshiba and pick Apple ... externalities, and in integrating them into an analysis. ...
    (sci.econ)
  • Re: Free-trade economists use Bad Math
    ... factors to measure by than just total GDP. ... Free-trade economists are making the ... customers tend to reject Toshiba and pick Apple ... externalities, and in integrating them into an analysis. ...
    (sci.econ)