Currency Manipulation

[@Andy-em8xt]

Hmm interesting. So its really the ancillary benefits that make having a weak exchange rate worth it. Like developing a business/corporate class and building human capital even if it trades some market efficiency in the short run.

[@bbeaum1]

I'd favor stable institutions, property rights, contract law and relatively low taxes to lay the foundation for an emerging economy. For established economies it does little more than perpetuate systems of favored, inefficient interests at the cost of a nearly completely unwittingly victimized taxpayer. We mustn't conflate greater complexity with cleverness and prudence. Currency manipulation establishes favored lobbying classes and expectations for officials seeking (re-)election. This skews even well-intentioned officials' decision making. It may even create artificially fertile climates for some industries such that they can only be profitable when exports are artificially stimulated with suppressed currency values; such industries would be bound to fail when the currency inflation stops. That creates a "what about these nice blue collar workers" narrative, such that the political incentives become married to a long lasting, inefficient, manipulative, difficult-to-detect and special-interest favoring routine.