Trade, Love and Conversation

Conversation may be a good analogy to get students thinking about free trade.

Catallarchy brought this to the forefront of my mind with their post entitled "Love As Trade":

Let’s imagine it in an economic sense, shall we? Let us say that putting barriers up between one’s self and others is precisely the same as raising tariffs. And let us take note of Ricardo’s basic arguments of comparative advantage. Trade barriers hurt both parties: they’re fine grains of economic balderdash. And so, if I close myself off, hide myself away from the people around me, then I not only hurt everyone else, I hurt myself. And, if I open up, we all gain.

And if they open, we all gain even more.   I suppose I could even graph this. [yeah - graphs ;) ]

Similarly, I tell my students that they should think about conversation as (generally) a positive-sum game in which there are gains from trade, and that we enter into voluntary (conversational) exchanges because it makes us better off.

Better yet, free trade is like sharing office gossip with your spouse. One partner does the trading around the office with other workers, and they do this because it benefits them somehow. Then they take the gossip home and trade it with their spouses. Of course, this takes time away from conversations your kids would like to have with your spouse.

Here's the clincher: the kids could suggest that you carry marbles around in your mouth at work to lessen the quality and quantity of gossip you bring home - and this would be to their advantage since it would surely shift them inwards from the periphery of dinner table conversation.

But this is absurd. Then again, so are restrictions on trade. QED.

P.S. I've often thought that you could run a classroom experiment in principles classes in which one student had to read a short passage to another with points awarded for comprehension. Trade restrictions would be simulated by requiring the reader to chew bubble gum while talking, with increasing restrictions captured by more gum. But ... I'm afraid of the choking hazard.

Comments

[Gotham Image]

interesting

[Gotham Image]

Maybe I should comment more in depth.

[cemil]

hi....