Borders: Why Do They Make a Difference?

International borders are artificial constructions. Yet, the data indicates there are macroeconomic differences on either side of, say, the border between The Netherlands and Belgium:

Why is that so?

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Technorati Tags: international,border

Comments

[mike shupp]

You DO realize that any serious discussion of the relevence of borders has to include bibliographic reference to Terry Southern's CANDY, don't you?

[Dave Tufte]

I don't.

Candy is a bit before my time. And I wouldn't say it's stood the test of time well.

Can you tell me why it's relevant here?

[mike shupp]

In MY generation, everyone read CANDY. Or so it seemed. Anyhow, early in the novel, one of Candy's profs takes Candy for a ride, drives across the US-Canada border, and gives a lecture about how, while Ontario and Michigan look a lot alike, they're different places in terms of laws, etc. He's trying to seduce her by suggesting that morality is relative,and this is part of his argument. It's not terribly profound and convincing, but -- hey! -- this is a comedic soft porn novel, and realizing the prof's argument is glib bullshit as a reader while watching Candy suck it up as terribly profound is part of the comedy.

Nor is this particularly subtle -- I read CANDY either in high school or early in my college days, almost 50 years ago, and I have to confess, I was NOT a sophisticated reader in those days, but I grasped the comedy in CANDY and pretty well understood I was supposed to grasp that cmedy,

Anyhow, it's a discussion of the importance or borders that goes on at several levels, was clearly intended to do so, and manages to be funny. Everybody ought to read CANDY!

[Dave Tufte]

Thanks for the recommendation.

Landsburg'e The Armchair Economist got me thinking more about the pointlessness of borders.