Alt text: "You legs may have a comparative advantage at running, but we arms have a competitive advantage at swinging hammers, so unless you accept that we're the dominant limbs and stop hogging the oxygen, that running advantage won't be around for long."

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smallmancontrov 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Ricardo's comparative advantage result is contingent on the assumption that capital is not mobile across borders. This was a good assumption in 1817. Is it a good assumption today?

Furthermore, he's very up front about this in On the Principles, and from this information you can calculate the exact number of people who read the damn thing between the person repeating the talking point and the person originating the talking point.

	▲	nkmnz 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		In 1817, capital did not cross borders. Borders crossed capital.
	▲	tim333 an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I don't know it makes much difference. People could walk from country to country in Europe back then and still can, likewise you could move money and equipment and still can.