Reference News Network, July 30 report: The Bloomberg News website published an article titled "Don't Trust the Zero-Sum Economic Mindset" on July 28. The author is Allison Schrager, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute in the United States. The following is a translated version of the article:

Recently, both the left and the right have reached a consensus on a zero-sum worldview. Although they have achieved rare ideological harmony on this point, they are both completely wrong.

This zero-sum perspective is reflected in speech and policy. The left's goal is wealth redistribution from the rich to the poor, while the right's goal is wealth redistribution from foreigners to nationals. This paranoid mindset is strange because the global economy is not a zero-sum game. The global economic landscape is not without problems - some regions lack resources and uncertainty is widespread - but real wages and wealth are increasing, and our standard of living is improving.

The greatest achievement of modern civilization may be that it has enabled people to overcome their innate bias toward assuming resource scarcity and competition. Now, this instinct seems to be making a comeback. But ironically, policies aimed at solving the zero-sum problem could make the world more zero-sum.

There is a tendency to believe that if one person gains more resources, another must necessarily gain less. This is because, for most of human history, this assumption was basically correct. When economic growth stagnates, the limitations of resources become more apparent.

However, once the economy starts to grow, this situation changes, and the economy is no longer a zero-sum game. If we expand more cooperation, creation, and innovation, we will significantly increase productivity and use existing resources more efficiently.

Since the industrial era, developed countries have mostly focused on growth. This has fostered a positive-sum worldview and is reflected in many economic policies. However, in recent years, there has been a shift in attitude: around the world, people no longer believe that their children will live better than themselves and think that the economic system needs to change. President Trump's economic plan is complex, but its main characteristic is a longing for the good old days.

The reasons are easy to understand. After World War II, the American economy in the second half of the 20th century showed positive-sum characteristics, and the economy of the 21st century was also once positive-sum. Americans are richer than ever before. However, the current widespread belief is that no one can truly thrive. Wealth and income gaps between countries are widening. The acceleration of change is also increasing uncertainty for everyone. History shows that uncertainty tends to reinforce the zero-sum mindset.

The current world faces many economic challenges, with economic growth insufficient to allow everyone to share in progress. It is easy for people to fall into the cycle of thinking that "everything will get worse." Populists around the world, whether on the right or the left, are exploiting this anxiety, pushing policies that make society more impoverished, such as restricting immigration and raising tariffs.

The danger of this zero-sum worldview is that it may become self-fulfilling. We should maintain a positive mindset - not only because it is beneficial to physical and mental health, but also because this optimistic attitude has always aligned with the facts over the past few centuries. (Translated by Pan Xiaoyan)

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7532781804370133558/

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