{"id":3507,"date":"2014-10-25T23:36:44","date_gmt":"2014-10-25T23:36:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/?p=3507"},"modified":"2014-10-25T23:37:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T23:37:17","slug":"cosmopolitan-apartment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/blog\/2014\/10\/cosmopolitan-apartment\/","title":{"rendered":"My Tiny Cosmopolitan Apartment – Article by Joseph S. Diedrich"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"The<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Joseph S. Diedrich
\n<\/big><\/big><\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n
October 25, 2014<\/span>
\n<\/big><\/div>\n
******************************<\/div>\n
\n

Global trade made my little flat a place of international treasures.<\/h2>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

I live in a studio apartment, so my kitchen is my living room is my bedroom. The other day, I was staring out my sole window when something startled me. (And it wasn\u2019t the subwoofer two floors up.)<\/p>\n

It was my coffee. While sipping from my mug, I glanced at the bag of beans. It read, \u201cOrigin: Ethiopia.\u201d Next, I read the text on the bottom of my laptop: \u201cDesigned by Apple in California. Assembled in China.\u201d I looked down at my necktie: \u201cBruno Piatelli. Roma.\u201d<\/p>\n

This little exercise became a game. From what other far-off places did my stuff come? I sleep on bed sheets from Egypt. I drink bottles of Shiraz from Australia. I pour Canadian maple syrup on my pancakes. Some things weren\u2019t technically \u201cforeign,\u201d but they still came a long way: books printed in New York, apples grown in Washington orchards, and beer brewed in St. Louis.<\/p>\n

Within the narrow confines of my apartment was an expansive world market \u2014 a veritable microcosm of the global economy.<\/p>\n

What startled me most wasn\u2019t that so much had traveled so far. Rather, it was that I found nothing from my own city. While I had purchased some items in Madison, they didn\u2019t originate here.<\/p>\n

What about the \u201cbuy local\u201d bandwagon? If I were to follow the consumer movement du jour to its fullest extent, I\u2019d be much poorer. Because of a much more constrained division of labor, I\u2019d spend more money on lower quality goods. I probably wouldn\u2019t even have coffee, and I certainly wouldn\u2019t own an Italian necktie.<\/p>\n

Yet I don\u2019t intentionally avoid local goods. Every Saturday morning, like a ritual, I visit the county farmers market. I buy delicious seasonal fruits, vegetables, and cheeses from nearby farmers \u2014 not because they\u2019re local, but because they\u2019re the best. Produce tends to be tastier if it hasn\u2019t spent a week on a flatbed.<\/p>\n

Adam Smith once wrote, \u201cIn every country it always is and must be the interest of the great body of the people to buy whatever they want of those who sell it cheapest.\u201d The less trade is restricted between individuals and across borders, the more \u201cthe body of people\u201d can \u201cbuy whatever they want\u201d the \u201ccheapest.\u201d As society becomes more and more integrated, we can better take advantage of the division of labor, leading to lower prices, greater prosperity, and a higher standard of living for everyone.<\/p>\n

When I buy a preferable foreign product instead of its domestic counterpart, I obviously benefit myself. I receive a better product at a better price. I also clearly help the foreign producer.<\/p>\n

I benefit the domestic economy, too. By purchasing cheaper foreign goods, I reserve more of my money to spend elsewhere, including in domestic exchange. More importantly, I send a signal to domestic producers: don\u2019t waste your time making that thing! By doing so, I incentivize domestic producers to reallocate their resources to more highly valued endeavors.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s true that free trade and globalization make the rich richer. But they also make the poor richer. Trade provides cell phones to people in developing countries. It increases wages. It fosters international peace. And it makes denizens of tiny dwellings feel like the freest, richest people in the world.<\/p>\n

Four hundred fifty square feet doesn\u2019t sound like much. Yet somehow I\u2019ve managed to fit states, countries, and even continents inside. The most remarkable thing of all? I didn\u2019t intend for this to happen. I didn\u2019t decide one day to start purchasing only \u201cforeign\u201d goods. I never consciously attempted to avail myself of \u201cexotic\u201d treasures.<\/p>\n

Nobody ever intends for this to happen. Every day, we make countless, often subconscious cost-benefit analyses. When it comes to purchasing actual goods, we weigh all the factors we care about \u2014 price, quality, size, shape, taste, and so on. We search for the highest quality consumer goods within our respective price ranges. Just by buying what we like, we unwittingly amass personal bazaars.<\/p>\n

We are capable of planning only for our individual selves. Despite the ubiquity of cosmopolitan collections of consumer goods, nobody could ever plan for such a thing. We simply lack the capacity to organize an entire economy to fit our specific needs.<\/p>\n

This was the keen insight of economist F.A. Hayek, who recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of his Nobel Prize<\/a>. While he admitted that \u201call economic activity\u201d involves planning, not all planning is the same. Because there\u2019s \u201cno dispute about whether planning is to be done or not,\u201d what matters is \u201cwhether planning is to be done centrally, by one authority for the whole economic system, or is to be divided among many individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

My apartment has only one window, but I feel like I can see the whole world. Every treasure I own is a window to a place I\u2019ve never been and to people I\u2019ve never met.<\/p>\n

Joseph S. Diedrich is a Young Voices Advocate<\/a>, a law student at the University of Wisconsin, and assistant editor at Liberty.me<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/div>\n
This article was originally published by The Foundation for Economic Education<\/a>.<\/strong><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joseph S. Diedrich October 25, 2014 ****************************** Global trade made my little flat a place of international treasures. *** I live in a studio apartment, so my kitchen is my living room is my bedroom. The other day, I was staring out my sole window when something startled me. (And it wasn\u2019t the subwoofer two floors up.) It was my coffee. While sipping from my mug, I glanced at the bag of beans. It read, \u201cOrigin: Ethiopia.\u201d Next, I read…<\/p>\n

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