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Originally Posted by Australianlibertarian  To be honest I am probably a moderate libertarian, maybe even weak by American standards. I honestly believe that free-markets are a good thing, as they can encourage economic growth. But I do not see free-market capitalism as the fix all solution. |
Would you see yourself as a classical liberal in the sense of Smith (and acknowledge perhaps that the libertarian movement has unfortunately been hijacked by crackpots)?
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Do I want trade barriers, government subsidies and government provided corporate welfare to end. Absolutely.
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Trade is an interesting one. Theoretically, its all over the place. For example, "new trade theory" (which isn't actually 'new' but we have to suffer the economist's choice of vocab) can not be used to argue that trade liberalisation is the best policy. We therefore can't simply refer to Smith's absolute advantage or Ricardo's comparative advantage. However, at the same time, we have broad agreement from orthodox (i.e. 'the free market is normally best') and radical (i.e. socialists) elements over 'free trade' in the long run. It just needs consideration of market problems, particularly for developing countries that need government interventionism to spark off full-blown industrial development.