On May 5, 2025, Russ Roberts interviews Doug Irwin, one of the world’s top trade economists. Doug recently completed an entry in a concise encyclopedia of economics entitled “Customers.”
Early in the interview, he and Russ talk about the trade deficit. Like almost all economists, Russ and Doug don’t see Thhue as an issue. But Doug had a refreshing way to put it down. He said:
So, the way I put it – sometimes when I tell students – let’s say you know, the government didn’t create statistics, economic statistics. If we had inflation, did you stop knowing it? You’ll definitely know that. Every time you go to a grocery store or Subjace, you will see it. If we were in a recession, have you stopped knowing it? absolutely. You will see the people around you, perhaps yourself, in their work. If you are running surplus or deficits, do you know that? No, it’s an abstraction. Personally, it’s not obedience that directly depends on you.
It did well.
Doug also pawned Adam Smith and nailed the issues in August about 250 years. Doug said:
Every time I pull books down from shelves, rich countries, I learn the subject again. I’ve read it and I can see that I have a subject and I missed or insighted. And it’s just a book of true wisdom. This is the guy – he didn’t have the internet. It was a little limited to time with the French UK, but he knew very well and I interpreted things very well. And it is very correlated today in so many dimensions.
I’ve had the same experience. However, I confess I haven’t read the entire cover to cover. I especially leapt over Smith’s tax disc.
