Protectionism may be harmful to all

India demonstrates the follies of protectionism. Until 1984, India had one car manufacturer, which produced just one car — the Ambassador — which was technologically inferior, belched pollutants, and was unaffordable to all but the elite. In 1984, India began to open its market to foreign car producers. This process exploded after the reforms of 1991 and millions of Indians have benefited from competition, purchasing cars that are less expensive, cleaner, more technologically advanced and efficient.

Environmental ideologues continue to make dour prognostications about our planet’s future, claiming that we all must consume less, have fewer children and trade less with each other to address climate change. Based on their scaremongering and frankly embarrassing record of false predictions in recent decades, these claims should not be heeded seriously. Such demands may suit the protectionist agenda but they have little merit in terms of their practical ability to enable humanity to use scarce natural and human resources in an ever-more sustainable manner.

The competitive market process, underpinned by free trade between and within nations, is inherently more sustainable than the regulated economy advocated by eco-doom mongers. Protectionism, naked or cloaked in green, harms the vast majority of people as well as the environment — and is best avoided.

Kendra Okonski and Caroline Boin run the environment program at International Policy Network, a London-based think tank.

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