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