What Are The No Economic Goals?

If you are ever on a debating team given the assignment of defending free trade, you will strengthen your case at the beginning by conceding that there is more to life than economic welfare. A nation surely should not sacrifice its liberty, culture, and human rights for a few dollars of extra income.

The U.S semiconductor industry provides a useful example here. In the 1980s, the Defense Department claimed that without an independent semiconductor industry, the military would become excessively dependent on Japanese and other foreign suppliers for clips to use in high technology weaponry. This led to an agreement to protect the industry.

Economists were skeptical bout the value of this approach. Their argument did not question the goal of national security. Rather, it focused on the efficiency of the means of achieving the desired result. They thought that protection was more expensive than a policy targeted on the industry, perhaps a program to buy a minimum number of high quality chips. National security is not the only any economic goal in trade policy. Countries may desire too preserve their cultural traditions or environmental conditions.