Iran and the Chimera of "Self-Sufficiency"

Ever since the dawn of the modern age movements have erupted again and again calling for a return to “self-sufficiency.”

That’s what mercantilism was all about.  That’s what socialism is all about.  And that is what the current regime in Iran is all about.  We don’t need no stink’n trading.  We can make it all here ourselves.

So in Iran, Amir Taheri writes:

Mr. Ahmadinejad insists that the only way Iran can preserve its "Islamic purity" is to reduce dependence on foreign commerce.
"Whatever we can produce we should do ourselves," the president likes to say. "Even if what we produce is not as good, and more costly."

Er no, old chum.  The central insight of the modern commercial era is the law of comparative advantage.  Everyone should do what they do best, and hire out everything else to other people.

It is the exact opposite of the idea of President Ahmadinejad and the rest of the self-sufficiency enthusiasts. 

Generally speaking, the record shows that countries that follow the path of self-sufficiency, or “autarky,” are countries following the path of self-impoverishment.

Of course, for the rest of us, it is no bad thing when thug dictators follow ruinous policies of national impoverishment.  Go ahead Chavez; go ahead Ahmadinejad.  Make my day.

But you have to feel sorry for the people in Venezuela and Iran and the rest of the thug-dictatordoms.  Because they get to pay the price for the follies and the delusions of their leaders.