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Originally Posted by The silenced majority  Force conservatism? That's an interesting little notion. How do you force the negation of ideology? |
Note the little c! Conservatism becomes a side issue in political economy. See, for example, the conservative social welfare function. This attaches greater weight to losses than gains, ensuring that change is discouraged.
Trade will lead to redistribution effects, given there will be winners and losers. There will of course be those that find that disagreeable and will find any means possible to maintain the status quo
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The British empire lost it's economic superiority by encouraging free trade with the then protectionist US.
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Nope! First, we have to refer to static gains. For example, her comparative advantage (and therefore gains from such liberalisation) reflected her naval dominance. Second, we have to refer to dynamic gains, The British Empire managed to maintain its unnatural dominance a tad longer via trade liberalisation