Free trade should be supported in principle as it ensures consumers have higher-quality, more varied, and cheaper products available to them.

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BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Question restatement: The claim is that free trade should be supported in principle because it yields higher-quality, more varied, and cheaper products for consumers. Now, let's analyze each answer option in turn.
Option 1: Liberalism. This view aligns with classic liberal economics, which emphasizes free markets, voluntary exchange, and minimal barriers to trade. The core idea is that specialization and comparative advantage lead to lower costs and greater consumer welfare, producing the very outcomes stated in the question. Hence, this option plausibly supports free trade for the reasons given.
Option 2: Economic nationalism (post-mercantilism). Economic nationalism prioritizes domestic production, often through tariffs, subsidies, and other controls to protect national interests. It typically argues that free trade harms domestic industries and jobs or reduces strategic advantages. Therefore, this choice runs counter to the stated principle that free trade benefits consumers through better and cheaper goods.
Option 3: Mercantilism (i.e., early form of economic nationalism). Mercantilism emphasizes accumulating national wealth through a positive trade balance, state intervention, and protectionist policies. It treats trade as a zero-sum game where exports are good and imports are bad for national strength. This directly conflicts with the idea that free trade should be supported because it improves consumer welfare.
Option 4: Marxist. A Marxist critique of free trade might focus on how trade can reproduce capitalist relations, exploit labor, or exacerbate inequalities if unregulated. While it can acknowledge certain efficiency gains, the primary focus is not a principled endorsement of free trade for consumer benefits. Thus this option does not articulate the stated rationale.
Option 5: Feminist. Feminist perspectives on trade typically examine how trade affects gender relations, labor rights, and equality. While relevant to policy discussions, it is not inherently a core defense of free trade for consumer quality, variety, and price advantages. As such, it does not directly match the justification given.
Option 6: Environmentalist. Environmentalist views on trade can be nuanced: some advocate green protections or sustainable trade rules, while others accept free trade if it reduces overall environmental impact through efficiency. However, as a concise defense of free trade for higher-quality, varied, cheaper goods, this option does not inherently or universally establish that rationale. It may sometimes support or critique free trade depending on environmental criteria, but it does not constitute the standard argument for free trade based on consumer benefits alone.
Overall, the reasoning for each option shows that the statement about free trade benefiting consumers through better and cheaper goods is best aligned with liberal economic thought, while the other positions generally promote restrictions, critiques, or conditional stances rather than unconditional support for free trade on consumer-welfare grounds.

AS.470.605.51.SP25 M06: Quiz

Free trade should be supported in principle as it ensures consumers have higher-quality, more varied, and cheaper products available to them.

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