comparative advantage

Dr. Donald Boudreaux is an American economist, author and Senior Fellow of the F.A. Hayek Program on the American Economy and Globalization at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Dr. Boudreaux is a senior scholar at TFAS where he teaches Economics for the Citizen for TFAS D.C. Summer Programs. He has authored several books including "Globalization," "Hypocrites and Half-Wits," and "The Essential Hayek." In addition to teaching at TFAS and Mason, he previously taught legal studies and economics at Clemson University, served as an Olin Visiting Fellow in Law and Economics at the Cornell Law School and was president of the Foundation for Economic Education. Dr. Boudreaux earned his Ph.D. in economics from Auburn University and J.D. from the University of Virginia.

In this week's Liberty + Leadership Podcast, Roger and Don discuss the basic foundations of economics, the public choice theory, how there are no solutions – only trade-offs – in economics, the comparative advantage of free trade, and why good journalism unfortunately makes bad economics. 

 The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS President Roger Ream and produced by kglobal. If you have a comment or question for the show, please drop us an email at podcast@TFAS.org.

David Autor of MIT talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the fundamentals of trade and his research on the impact on workers and communities from trade with China. Autor's research finds large and persistent effects on manufacturing jobs and communities where those jobs once were. Autor and Roberts discuss whether these results capture the full impact of increased trade with China and what the policy response might be that could help workers hurt by trade.

Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk, does a monologue this week on the economics of trade and specialization. Economists have focused on David Ricardo's idea of comparative advantage as the source of specialization and wealth creation from trade. Drawing on Adam Smith and the work of James Buchanan, Yong Yoon, and Paul Romer, Roberts argues that we've neglected the role of the size of the market in creating incentives for specialization and wealth creation via trade. Simply put, the more people we trade with, the greater the opportunity to specialize and innovate, even when people are identical. The Ricardian insight masks the power of market size in driving innovation and the transformation of our standard of living over the last few centuries in the developed world.

Don Boudreaux, of George Mason University, talks about the ideas in his book, Globalization. He discusses comparative advantage, the winners and losers from trade, trade deficits, and inequality with EconTalk host Russ Roberts.