Our reading material, for this week, describes the gains for trade as moving “goods, services, and resources from people who value them less to people who value them more” (Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel, & Macpherson, 2013, p. 320). Trade allows the trading partners to increase their output level therefore increasing their income level (Gwartney, Stroup, Sobel, & Macpherson, 2013, p. 320). A business can focus on a specific product that they do well in order to maximize profits. Trade allows individual and business to obtain items that they cannot or would be very expensive to make themselves. The gains that trade allows is that consumers can benefit from a larger selection of goods to make a selection from.
Author Denise H. Froning states that “Free trade enables more goods and services to reach American consumers at lower prices, thereby substantially increasing their standard of living” (Froning, 2000). Trade provides a bolster to an economy as described in an article from The Economist on the results of the NAFTA Trade agreement, “…Mexico—an emerging market hitched to two larger, rich ones—has been NAFTA’s biggest beneficiary” (Deeper, better, NAFTA, 2014). Trade allows for a struggling economy to benefit from the assistance of other more established economies, although this is not to say that all economies cannot see gains form trading with others. The Office of the United States Trade Representative states that “Trade between the United States and its NAFTA partners has soared since the agreement entered into force” (North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), n.d.).
All throughout history, including during the biblical times, trade has been an integral part of individuals and businesses alike. In Genesis 34:10, God gives us instruction on His provision for us and the land that He created for us, “You can settle among us; the land is open to you. Live in