Many civilizations have been centered on trade not because they had plenty of resources but because they did not

 

Great Civilizations Depend on Trade, declares Johan Norberg in a Wall Street Journal essay adapted from his book to be released in September, “Peak Human: What We Can Learn from the Rise and Fall of Golden Ages.” 

Trade is not a byproduct of greatness but its foundation. Many civilizations have been centered on trade not because they had plenty of resources but because they didn’t.

Ancient Athens had to rely on trade because its poor soil was not sufficient to feed the population. But the land could produce olive oil and wine, so Athenians developed extended trade links to export those goods and import grain from the Black Sea region. Dutch farmers faced similar constraints: Much of their land was lost to the sea, so they specialized in livestock and traded for grain from the Baltics.

 … Specializing in trade made these civilizations some of the most prosperous in history. Athens’s wealth enabled a deeper division of labor and the rise of professions like philosopher, historian, sculptor, architect, playwright and actor. Song China was so successful that some economic historians have argued it came close to unleashing an industrial revolution 400 years before Britain did. With ample resources, the Dutch fought for and won independence from Habsburg Spain, the world’s most powerful empire, while also helping to launch the Enlightenment and create modern art. Foreigners were astonished to see that even ordinary Dutch homes displayed paintings.

 … Trade’s most vital contribution was intellectual, giving these cultures access to ideas, methods and technologies they couldn’t have developed alone. Constantly meeting foreigners with other experiences and ideas broadens one’s horizon of what’s possible. The ancient Greek mindset, curious and adaptive, owes much to living amid hundreds of neighboring city-states with distinct cultures.

 … But trade is rarely allowed to stay free for long. Governments often made a deliberate effort to restrict trade with foreigners, because the constant change and innovation trade brings can upset the status quo. Merchants could suddenly earn fortunes rivaling the landholding nobility, and strange ideas could undermine intellectual elites. Countries have always feared competition from foreigners, just as we do today.

 … The lesson is clear: Protectionism might seem like a shield, but it easily becomes a cage.