At golf's Presidents Cup, fans were crazy for the international team. Maybe we shouldn't give up on economic internationalism just yet
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Only if you’re an economist do you watch the Presidents Cup golf tournament on TV and start thinking about international trade and investment and the current state of global liberalism. But economics is as serious an addiction as golf: if you’re a sufferer, you can’t help it.
What started me thinking about these things as I watched rich athletes trying to hit shiny dimpled balls into small holes scattered strategically around beautifully manicured countryside was what the fans were chanting. Every two years, the Presidents Cup pits 12 Americans against 12 “internationals,” i.e., not American and not European. (The Europeans and Americans play for the Ryder Cup in odd-numbered years.)
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What were the fans chanting? On the first day of competition, Thursday, not much. The U.S. swept the matches 5-0 and the crowds were quiet and were criticized for it, anonymously, by international team members. But then on Friday the internationals stormed back and won 5-0, which had never been done before, and the fans got louder. One of their more popular chants was “I-N-T! I-N-T!”, for “International! International!” It’s a take-off on the........