Central Bankers Are Starting to Push Back Against Protectionist Rhetoric

          Comparative advantage is central to the idea of international trade.  It states that a country will produce more of product X if the country’s opportunity cost for the extra unit of production is lower than other choices.  The easiest example is derived from the different standard of living between a developed and newly industrialized economy; in the latter, the opportunity cost of producing nearly any good is lower than the cost in a developed country.  This is why “muscle jobs” move offshore so easily – the cost of sending those jobs to the country with the lo