How is protectionist trade policy a fallacy? Williamson and ORourke have shown that the
two most successful economies in the period 1865-1914 where two of the most protectionist,
the United States and Germany. In a static world protectionist policies may have no
logical support, and hence are a fallacy. But in a dynamic world of innovation, growth,
and evolution, some forms of protectionsim may be beneficial. Hence the prior assumptions
(e.g., static vs. dynamic) have much to say whether something is a fallacy. I think more
agnosticism would be most helpful--let's look at the specifics.
Fred Carstensen