In Defense of Outsourcing‪.‬

You probably did not sew the clothes you are wearing as you read this, nor did you grow the food you will eat today. You also didn't build your own home, manufacture your own car, perform your own dentistry, or cut your own hair. You may not clean your own house or mow your own lawn. If you're single you may opt for a dating service to find romance, and once you've found it you may delegate part of your child rearing to a day-care service. In other words, you outsource in your personal life. Everyone does, and with good reason. I am not grotesquely less competent at the ordinary tasks of life than my fellow citizens. But if I tried to produce personally all or most of what my family consumes, my family would face a dirt-poor standard of living. Adam Smith ([1776] 1994: 485-86), patron saint of economists, recognized this lesson two centuries ago, writing, "It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy." Smith also noted that the logic of outsourcing applied to nations as well as householders. He continued: "What is prudence in the conduct of every private family, can scarce be folly in that of a great kingdom."