Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is an opportunity cost though, no? That wealth could have resulted in domestic progress. If I am making Jeans in 1995 in America, but in 2000 I lay off workers, shut down cotton fields, dying processes, etc. and off shore it, while hiring 2 people instead of 50 - to manage suppliers, that indeed, unquestionably has resulted in loss of wealth. Can you explain how this would be a zero sum game? I know @naval keeps t…
My comment was more that it's not a zero sum game and that a significant part of China's growth was not at the expense of the US (but part of it obviously was). By offshoring the manufacturing of jeans, American jobs were lost, correct. But presumably the cost of manufacturing was lowered which opened up new markets (can charge less and still make a profit) and those profits flowed back into the US. And at the same t…
But you're right, jobs are not zero sum either. They create new jobs, which in turn create other new jobs, and so forth. If they didn't, we'd all pretty much be unemployed except for farmers.