Source: The Daily Economy
by Aidan Grogan
“As large segments of the Right and Left embrace protectionism, America’s once bipartisan free- trade consensus is castigated as the culprit of various social problems, especially the breakdown of the family. Pat Buchanan, a long-time proponent of economic nationalism, wrote in his 1998 book The Great Betrayal: ‘Broken homes, uprooted families, vanished dreams, delinquency, vandalism, crime — these are the hidden costs of free trade.’ This narrative has become a cliche populist trope in recent years, with many high-profile voices attributing family dissolution to ‘neoliberal’ globalization and the purported ‘deindustrialization’ of the United States. But the role of trade liberalization in the breakdown of the American family was negligible for two primary reasons: 1) the decline in marriage and rise in divorce and illegitimacy rates preceded the era of economic globalization; and 2) technological change, not outsourcing, has been the premier factor in waning manufacturing employment.” (10/22/24)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/economic-populism-wont-rebuild-traditional-families/