Do the concepts of import and export make economic sense?
www.libertarianprepper.com
While balance of payments deficits are an important part of what economists study, and the statistics statisticians keep, does the notion of a balance of payments, or even of imports and exports, make economic sense? In order to calculate a balance of payments, one must essentially take some arbitrary line in the sand and determine trade beyond that line to be an import or an export. But what fundamental economic difference is there in a trade between people in Brussels and Antwerp (both a part of Belgium), or Brussels and Paris? There are political implications to be sure, since the governments of these countries have seen it fit to impose various restrictions on such trade, but can we imagine the concept of a balance of payments existing on a free market, with no such political restrictions?
Do the concepts of import and export make economic sense?
Do the concepts of import and export make…
Do the concepts of import and export make economic sense?
While balance of payments deficits are an important part of what economists study, and the statistics statisticians keep, does the notion of a balance of payments, or even of imports and exports, make economic sense? In order to calculate a balance of payments, one must essentially take some arbitrary line in the sand and determine trade beyond that line to be an import or an export. But what fundamental economic difference is there in a trade between people in Brussels and Antwerp (both a part of Belgium), or Brussels and Paris? There are political implications to be sure, since the governments of these countries have seen it fit to impose various restrictions on such trade, but can we imagine the concept of a balance of payments existing on a free market, with no such political restrictions?