Comparative Advantage, Tariffs, and Why I Pay My Barber I keep hearing on the news that the U.S. has a massive trade deficit. Politicians insist this is terrible for our economy. They say we need huge tariffs on imported goods, that we must manufacture everything here at home, and stop buying so much from other countries. But recently, I noticed something interesting in my own life that seems directly related: I have a massive trade deficit with my barber—and things are working out pretty well for both of us. Every few weeks, I pay my barber to cut my hair. Yet she never buys anything from me—not engineering expertise, not a mandolin lesson—nothing at all. If the government tracked my haircuts the way it measures international trade, they’d say I’m getting ripped off, and my barber is getting rich. So why don't I "protect" myself and eliminate this unfair deficit? I suppose I could start cutting my own hair. But trust me—you don't want to see the results. I’d ...