capitalist peace

War metaphors and trade — Bastiat

A flotilla of ships is approaching your shore. Does it matter to you whether they are carrying smartphones and shoes — or rockets and soldiers? In his Economic Sophisms, Frédéric Bastiat makes this exasperated point: “A French ironmaster says: ‘We must protect ourselves from the invasion of English iron!’ An English landlord cries: ‘We must […]

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On the *moral* benefits of international trade: Skwire, Marty, and Hicks pieces

FEE this month reprints Sarah Skwire’s good piece from 2017: “The Moral and Spiritual Blessings of Trade Among All Nations”: “Free trade doesn’t just make us better off. It makes us better people.” At PanAm Post this month, Maria Marty takes up the underlying collectivist premises of many anti-free-trade arguments: “La excusa colectivista para limitar

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Modernity’s declining violence

“A common misconception often quoted by media, politicians, activists is that violence is on the rise and has historically been much lower. Similarly, the trend in post-colonial anthropology has been to regard historically indigenous and tribal societies as more peaceful than contemporary Western society. However, archaeological evidence shows that previous societies had very high level

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