The poor in rural Africa have for years cooked their meals of stew and cornmeal porridge over open wood fires in three-legged cast-iron pots that are made in South Africa and sell for about $55. Recently, however, a foundry in Shanghai has begun shipping its version of the pots to Africa, where even after shipping and import duties, they can be purchased for as little as $15. The trend — repeated on product after product and in country after country across Africa — has been a huge boon for the continent's poor, many of whom are now able to afford consumer products that previously were beyond their reach. But it has delivered a body blow to an already weak manufacturing sector, eliminating jobs and forcing companies like one Johannesburg cooking-pot maker to consider making its products abroad. (Washington Times, Monday)

Wants are unlimited. Labor and resources are scarce.

FEE Timely Classic
The Most Elusive Proposition by Manuel F. Ayau