The Iowa Car Crop: A Critical View of the Trade Efficiency and the Role of Protectionism
Journal: Open Journal of Business and Management
Year: 2025

David Friedman’s Iowa Car thought that experiment challenges modern perceptions of production and international trade by showing how growing wheat can, in economic sense function as technology for car manufacturing in international trade. When a country exports wheat and import cars, it effectively transforms its agricultural surplus into industrial products through greater efficiency than domestic production. This classical view raises a critical question on the trade barriers imposed by govern