◆ GLOBAL & APPLIED
International Trade
Comparative advantage, tariffs, quotas, and the gains from trade.
13 articles
FeaturedTrade Policy, Jobs, and the Political Economy of Protection
Economists agree free trade grows the pie. Why is protection so popular? Gains are spread thin, losses concentrated, and politics rewards the loud.
Read more →Deep Dives
4 articles
◆ INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Comparative Advantage: The Principle Behind Every Trade Relationship on Earth
Comparative advantage explains why two parties gain from trade even when one is better at everything. The math is opportunity cost, at every scale.
◆ INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Trade Doesn't Cost Jobs — It Moves Them. Here's the Evidence.
The idea that imports destroy jobs and trade is zero-sum is intuitive, persistent, and wrong in the aggregate — but the real story is more honest than either…
◆ INTERNATIONAL TRADE
Tariffs: Winners, Losers, and the Deadweight Loss Nobody Talks About
A tariff helps domestic producers and the Treasury, but it costs consumers more than both gain combined. The gap is deadweight loss — pure value destroyed.
◆ INTERNATIONAL TRADE
The Hidden Tax: How Quotas and Non-Tariff Barriers Really Work
Tariffs announce themselves. Quotas, standards, and red tape don't, and that invisibility is exactly what makes them so effective and so costly.