What was your opinion about restrictions on international trade before reading this chapter? Have you changed your mind? Strengthened your opinion? In what ways and why? What was the most interesting part of the chapter to you? Why?
Prior to reading this chapter, I thought that restrictions on international trade were a bad thing. The idea that any countries would not be able to trade with others and experience the benefits of a greater variety of goods, lower costs through economies of scale and increased competition led me to believe that any restrictions on international trade would cause both producers and consumers to be at a disadvantage. However, chapter 9 makes very clear that you need to take into consideration the changes in total surplus and what effect that has on trade. My opinion of this was strengthened by the two respective conclusions of importing and exporting that when trade is allowed, although one party (consumer, producer) is better off, no matter who is worse off, the benefits exceed the drawbacks thereby making it beneficial for society as a whole. In light of this new understanding I still think that restrictions on international trade are a bad thing, only now for a completely different reason. This is a good example of what was most interesting in not only this chapter, but economics as a field of study so far, which is a greater understanding of economic concepts that dismiss some seemingly logical perspectives.
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