Wait, which borders are you talking about? The borders of each individuals property? So everyone should be self-sufficient, with no trade happening at all?
no i meant that in a metaphorical sense. no free trade means that there’s no “getting ahead” (because you can’t flood a foreign market with your cheap products), so people put in less effort.
Yes but which free trade are you talking about? Because if you close borders so trade only happens within one country, then there will still be competition within the country. I.e. your neighbor’s factory. That’s why I ask which borders you mean exactly… Because usually “close the border” means closing the border of the country to imports/exports of goods/humans of other countries.
Yes but i suspect that competition would be less fierce within the country, for two reasons:
the central government can stand in and regulate that “a factory may only produce a specific amount of goods”. such regulation works better on the smaller level, because regulatory oversight is easier to achieve.
i guess that maybe the competition could naturally be less fierce. Consider: you would not want to pick a fight with the neighbour that lives directly next door; because you still have to get along well with him. It’s easier to be in fierce competition with somebody who is on the other side of the world, because you will probably never see them again.
If there’s no free trade, you don’t try to undercut the prices of your neighbor’s factory. You just produce your thing, and that’s it.
Wait, which borders are you talking about? The borders of each individuals property? So everyone should be self-sufficient, with no trade happening at all?
no i meant that in a metaphorical sense. no free trade means that there’s no “getting ahead” (because you can’t flood a foreign market with your cheap products), so people put in less effort.
Yes but which free trade are you talking about? Because if you close borders so trade only happens within one country, then there will still be competition within the country. I.e. your neighbor’s factory. That’s why I ask which borders you mean exactly… Because usually “close the border” means closing the border of the country to imports/exports of goods/humans of other countries.
Yes but i suspect that competition would be less fierce within the country, for two reasons:
the central government can stand in and regulate that “a factory may only produce a specific amount of goods”. such regulation works better on the smaller level, because regulatory oversight is easier to achieve.
i guess that maybe the competition could naturally be less fierce. Consider: you would not want to pick a fight with the neighbour that lives directly next door; because you still have to get along well with him. It’s easier to be in fierce competition with somebody who is on the other side of the world, because you will probably never see them again.