Re: colonial weapons

Roger Burton West wrote:

> You might even move goods from an area where they cost X to produce to
> an area where they cost less than X to produce - _if_ the recipients
can
> use the time they save in not producing the things to do something
else
> which earns them more than they'd save by making their own things.

Economic theorists have a way of describing these situations:  Producing
the
goods cost more than X (the cost of lost opportunities is not an
accounting
fiction).  If it really was cheaper for the importers of the goods to
make it
locally, they will maximise their profits.

Importers have to be careful when importing these goods; unless, order
cycles
are short.  If a good *could* be made cheaper locally, but isn't, there
is
likely a very good reason.  The most likely one is that the possibility
of
the market drying up is high.  Stuffed toys are more expensive than they
could be, because the lifetime of a stuffed toy's popularity precludes
designing machines to stitch them up (even the cheapest ones are likely
hand