Some Stuff on Trade

Here's a Don Boudreaux letter to the editor on trade and job creation (which are really one in the same if you think about it):

Labor-union official Vincent Fyfe wants the state of New York to continue prohibiting supermarkets from selling wine (Letters, Feb. 12). His reason? Supermarket wine sales will put some liquor-store owners out of business and their employees out of work.

Note to Mr. Fyfe: the purpose of the wine trade – like every other trade – is to serve consumers, not to create jobs for producers. If job creation were paramount, then government should not only continue to prohibit supermarkets from selling wine, but should require that bottles of beer, wine, and spirits be hand-delivered to retailers, one at a time, while cradled in the arms of carriers each pulled though the streets in a rickshaw.

Of course, such a requirement would harm consumers, but it would also create lots of jobs.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux

While at dinner a few months I heard someone close to me say that the new devices offered by the local Stop & Shop that allowed shoppers to instantly check out their items were not only bad because they were cumbersome (the real motivation for her vitriol I believe), but also because they eliminated the jobs of traditional check out people.

I held my tongue but wanted to ask, "Should EZPass be eliminated as well? It surely destroys the job of the local tollbooth worker."

Given that she is an avid user of EZPass, and one who loves the benefits it provides, I'm not sure what she would have said.

In a similar vein, Russ Roberts' most recent EconTalk podcast is an excellent monologue on trade and borrows heavily on the ideas of Smith, Ricardo and Krugman. Highly recommended.