Comparative Advantage vs. China

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He was confident of the truth of all that he uttered. And he uttered a lot.

He -- call him Ben -- is an urbane man who was seated across from me recently at a lunch group organized by a mutual friend. Ben spoke speedily and with authority on everything from cinema to Miami restaurants to bookstores in the Tel Aviv of his youth. Knowing little about these matters, I nodded my head politely at all he said. I had no reason to doubt its truth.

But my attitude changed when Ben turned his verbal virtuosity to economics. "You watch," Ben warned. "The Chinese work so hard and are so smart that they'll soon gain a comparative advantage over Americans at producing everything."

I …