Paul Samuelson Challenges Outsourcing

Noryungi writes "Paul A. Samuelson, Nobel Laureate in Economics, a professor at MIT challenges the outsourcing of jobs (retinal scan login required) to India and China. Choice quote: To put things in simplified terms, he explained in the interview, being able to purchase groceries 20 percent cheaper at Wal-Mart does not necessarily make up for the wage losses."

Comments

Reg Free Link - No Karma Whoring

[Anonymous Coward]

And here is the Reg-Free link.

In the future please use the NY Times Blog Link Generator when linking to the soul suckers.

Bugmenot

[FortKnox]

(retinal scan login required)

Is this really necessary anymore? How many people DON'T know about bugmenot? Hell, there is even a firefox extension to plop it straight into your browser!

Wal - Mart

[Aggrazel]

Love those pickles

Walmart, by itself, can combat inflation. However, at what cost?

Fast Company article

[sometwo]

"The Wal-Mart You Don't Know
The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?" : http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.htm l

Re:globalized economy.

[be-fan]

If you read the whole article, you'll see this isn't true. He won his Nobel Prize for his work showing how internationalization can help make a rich country. He notes that until now, globalization has helped us, rather than hurt us. He just tries to make the qualification that globalization doesn't *necessarily* always lead to benefits, as most economists believe.

His statement is quite a bit mroe subtle than you can put in "simplified terms." Basically, his point is that while the traditional theories of comparative advantage hold, it is possible that certain types of trade can cause you to loose your comparative advantage.

Makes sense, but I'll reserve judgement until the majority of economists have had a chance to weigh in on it.

Re:globalized economy.

[grasshoppa]

Highly skilled?

Are you kidding? So far, my exposure to outsourced crap has been just that, crap. Not worth the beans we paid for it.

We could hire bums off the street ( fresh out from giving blood and buying booze ) to code better than some of the stuff flowing out of india right now.