Conservative scholar Oren Cass wants to “redefine the economic orthodoxy that guides the nation's politics and public policy.” He's convinced that economists wrongly discount the importance of work while naively giving pride of place to consumption.
Consistent with his conviction, Cass proposes that government policies – including trade policy – pay more conscious attention to our roles as producers and workers and less attention to our roles as consumers. Cass believes that a policy of free trade – in which workers lose their jobs merely because consumers change their spending patterns – undermines human dignity by overlooking the deep yearning that each of us has to be productive rather than merely consumptive.
Read Full Article »