You remember Andy Warhol . . the guy who did a painting of a can of Campbell's Soup. But why did he do that? Turns out that he said that he actually liked boring things. He saw the beauty in things so ordinary that we overlook them.
Arthur says that something like that is true in policy issues:
"[T]he very best example of the Warhol principle in policy is international trade. If it is progress against poverty that we’re pursuing, trade beats the pants off every fancy development program ever devised. The simple mundane beauty of making things and exchanging them freely is the best anti-poverty achievement in history.
" [A]round a billion people have escaped destitution since 1990. Why? It isn’t the United Nations or foreign aid. It is . . free trade in poor countries.
"That mug in your hand that says “Made in China” is part of the reason that 680 million Chinese have been pulled out of absolute poverty since the 1980s. No giant collaboration among transnational technocrats or lending initiatives did that. It was because of economic reforms in China, of people making stuff, putting it on boats, and sending it to be sold in America — to you."
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