Principle of Comparative Advantage: Bicentenary

Lord Wallace of Saltaire Excerpts

Tuesday 17th January 2017 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Mobarik]

I think I will leave arranging the party to my noble friend, and he can draw up the guest list. But I reassure him that whatever the setting, the UK will remain a strong and proud proponent of free trade, which, as Ricardo’s work predicted, has spread prosperity, lifted millions out of poverty and enhanced political stability across the globe.

[Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)]

My Lords, does the Minister recall that Ricardo’s classic example of comparative advantage was between Portuguese wine and English woollen cloth? Several industrial transformations later, with active Governments intervening to alter the terms of comparative advantage—in Japan, Korea and now China—would she agree that the formulation, negotiation and regulation of free trade is infinitely more complicated than Ricardo could ever have imagined?