What this impresses on me is a tremendous disrespect for the uniqueness of each group. What is unique is not always commercial. But what is unique is often crucial in the quilt of the world. As they said about fracking: Doing it right can be tremendously expensive but doing it wrong is far more expensive and lasts for generations. Such inhumanity can create PTSD for generations and an inner rage that will eventually murder children as in Serbia the most Western cultured of all of the Yugoslav Republics. I've too have experienced a dominant society turn a nation of Artists into a nation of small merchants. The specialness is gone and that beautiful part of the human quilt is shabby. The lesson of Esau and Jacob in the bible during this time of beginning again for the people of Esau and Jacob.
REH From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Arthur Cordell Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:28 AM To: 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'; 'Keith Hudson' Subject: Re: [Futurework] Professional Ethics (of economists) This kind of "comparative advantage" can be viewed as a kind of dumping. Where products are sold below cost. http://economics.about.com/od/termsbeginningwithd/g/dumping.htm Strictly speaking it is not classical dumping but where prison and child labour is used and where environmental and labour laws are either non existent or ignored, then it can be argued that the true costs of production are not being reflected in the price of the product. Short term benefits must be weighed against longer term costs to the developed country as it loses manufacturing capacity, design capability, etc., jobs, etc., to the low cost exporting country. "short term gain can bring long term pain" arthur From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ed Weick Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2011 9:04 AM To: Keith Hudson; RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Professional Ethics (of economists) Keith: The practice of comparative advantage is carried out more widely and more precisely than ever before. Most finished goods are products of several different material sources and/or operations. Most international trade these days consists of resources and part-goods cris-crossing the world before final assembly. Me: I think that in today's world we need a more up-to-date understanding of "comparative advantage", one which incorporates the question of advantage to whom. I have a little book on my shelves entitled "The True Cost of Low Prices: The Violence of Globalization" by Vincent Gallagher, who was a researcher for various international agencies. It doesn't deny that countries that produce goods for Walmart or components for Microsoft have a comparative advantage, but points out that many of the people who do the work in those countries are often close to being slave labour and are sometimes slave labour in fact. We tend to see low wage costs as being advantageous, but tend to omit the thought that they may be advantegeous to us but not necessarily to the workers who make things for us. Ed
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