… is from page 209 of David Friedman’s excellent 1996 book Hidden Order; here, Friedman uses the term “economic imperialism” in its older form, namely, as a term to condemn private investment in ‘developing’ countries by firms and investors from ‘developed’ countries:
People who attack economic imperialism regard themselves as champions of the poor and oppressed. To the extent that they succeed in preventing foreign investment in poor countries, they are benefitting the capitalists of those countries by holding up their profits and injuring the workers by holding down their wages.
(BTW, if you’re in search of a really good book to introduce someone college-age or higher to the economic way of thinking – an introduction simultaneously packed with insights yet accessible and entertaining – you can’t do better than to give him or her a copy of Hidden Order.)]
This piece of advice is no longer hidden but an open secret, but in India, hypocrisy rules and ignorance reigns. [TNM55]
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