Economic Illiteracy

In Economic Illiteracy Quadrifecta,
Arnold Kling writes:

Kerry implies that outsourcing is inherently bad and ought to be curtailed as much as possible. Criticism of outsourcing appeals to two economically illiterate prejudices: anti-foreign bias and make-work bias. Anti-foreign bias is the belief that we benefit from economic activity more when it involves people who look and speak the way we do than when it involves people from different tribes or cultures. Make-work bias is the belief that if the economy becomes too productive, there will not be enough jobs.

To be fair, Kling also says,

It would be a mistake to blame Senator Kerry personally. Clearly, he represents the political market at work. Economically illiterate rhetoric on the part of politicians is not stupid. It is what the public deserves.

He also directs the reader to Bryan Caplan's Straight Talk About Economic Literacy, which criticizes the economic illiteracy among Americans. (That's not surprising, since in the academy so many professors are still enamored of Marx.)