Sigh
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Featured Stories | Foreign Affairs — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Well, it didn't take long for me to be disappointed, now did it?
Oh, I expected Sarkozy's protectionist sentiments to show. And I continue to believe that he was the best choice available in this year's Presidential elections. I imagine that as time goes on, he will show Americans that there are reasons to cheer his election--his adherence to American values and his affection for America does remain strong, after all.
But is it too much to ask that France's sclerotic economic policies sooner go the way of the dodo bird? Protectionism simply does not work. Just because Sarkozy seems to think that it can eventually work if we give it just a little more time, does not mean that someday, the policies of protectionism will begin working the kind of magic that Sarkozy seems to believe they will work.
A nation like France with a high tax structure and an advanced welfare state certainly cannot afford protectionism. However, the old saw that protection does not ever work is simply not true.
When a nation has a growing industrial base and very low taxes it can indeed fund some of its necessary government through tariffs and help its fledgling industries. The actual facts are that economies can prosper with raising wage rates and raising standard of living both in a high and a low tariff regime. Likewise nations can suffer crippling recessions in both high and low tariffs.
Tariff policy itself is never sufficient to indicate the direction the economy is headed. Having said that I believe, all things being equal it is generally better to have free trade.
"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle