If Trump chooses to threaten Denmark militarily over Greenland, Denmark cannot respond militarily. It does not have the scale. But it does have the sort of leverage that matters in the modern global economy because Denmark is not just a small NATO state of about the size of Scotland; it is also a critical supplier… Read More »Ooooh, the attention to statistical detail here is impressive! The post Ooooh, the attention to statistical detail here is impressive! first appeared on Tim Worstall.
If Trump chooses to threaten Denmark militarily over Greenland, Denmark cannot respond militarily. It does not have the scale. But it does have the sort of leverage that matters in the modern global economy because Denmark is not just a small NATO state of about the size of Scotland; it is also a critical supplier of medicines to the United States, and the US healthcare system is built in a way that makes rapid substitution for the drugs it supplies nigh on impossible.
The most significant of its pharmaceutical exports is insulin. Reported trade figures suggest that around 74% of US insulin imports (by value) come from Denmark. That is not a marginal share. It effectively means that the USA is dependent on Denmark for the insulin it needs, with no alternatives being available, and millions of Americans require that insulin continuously. A disruption in supply would not, then, just be an inconvenience. It would not even create rationing. It could create clinical harm and a domestic political crisis.
And from this we will get to a critique of neoliberalism!
This is globalisation backfiring on the USA. The usual claim is that markets optimise supply chains and diversify risk. That story is false. The reality has always been that, at a global level, markets concentrate profits and, in doing so, often concentrate production. Denmark is where that concentration of insulin production has ended up.
Abject fucking tossery, of course.
It’s 74% “of imports”. The vast majority of insulin used in the US is produced in the US. True, true, Novo Nordisk – a Danish company – is one of the three major producers. But they produce inside the US as well as in Denmark.
But Spudnomics, see?
The post Ooooh, the attention to statistical detail here is impressive! first appeared on Tim Worstall.
