Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux
Posted in
Commentary "In the 15th century China’s Ming rulers sealed that nation off from ocean-going trade -- a policy that included cutting off the tongues of master shipbuilders to ensure that knowledge of how to build sea-worthy freighters would never be passed along. The resulting blow to China’s economic dynamism and growth was cataclysmic. While China’s policy today of banning super-sized freighters from Chinese ports is far less extreme, the effect will be in the same direction ..." (11/14/12)
http://tinyurl.com/afk4vuv
What if no ship were larger than a kayak? What prosperity we’d enjoy then!
by Don Boudreaux
Posted in Commentary
"In the 15th century China’s Ming rulers sealed that nation off from ocean-going trade -- a policy that included cutting off the tongues of master shipbuilders to ensure that knowledge of how to build sea-worthy freighters would never be passed along. The resulting blow to China’s economic dynamism and growth was cataclysmic. While China’s policy today of banning super-sized freighters from Chinese ports is far less extreme, the effect will be in the same direction ..." (11/14/12)
http://tinyurl.com/afk4vuv