The Dismal Science and the Trumpian Tariff Hullabaloo

<![CDATA[        Whenever the subject of trade comes up, many right-leaning free traders and left-leaning neoliberals alike trot out the same talking point: "The economists all agree tariffs are terrible!" And perhaps they do -- or at least most of them do. Barriers to free and unfettered trade may well appear "inefficient" as a matter of an economic model's "deadweight loss" -- and they may well conflict with David Ricardo's much-heralded 19th-century trade theory of "comparative advantage." It may well be the case that "consumer surplus" is indeed harmed by restrictions on the free flow of goods.]]>