beggar-my-neighbor strategy
- noun
- /ˈbɛɡər maɪ ˈneɪbər ˈstrætədʒi/
- Literature
:
estrategia de pobre de mi vecino
- After the crisis, each country adopted its own beggar-my-neighbor strategy to protect domestic jobs.
Examples
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The government's tariffs have been criticized as a classic beggar-my-neighbor strategy.
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Many economists warn that a beggar-my-neighbor strategy can lead to escalating trade wars.
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A beggar-my-neighbor strategy can harm international relations.
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The beggar-my-neighbor strategy is controversial.
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Countries often resort to a beggar-my-neighbor strategy during economic downturns to safeguard their own industries.
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Adopting a beggar-my-neighbor strategy can create tensions between nations as each attempts to gain a competitive edge.
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Experts argue that a beggar-my-neighbor strategy ultimately harms global trade and cooperation.
Synonyms
A plan to help one country by hurting other countries' trade
An aggressive, unfair way of trying to gain an advantage over others in business
Antonyms
How Harmful
- Literature
17
7.0
- Formal
443
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
beggar-my-neighbor + strategy
The literal parts ('beggar', 'my', 'neighbor') yield a clear image of making a neighbor poor, so a learner could infer the idea of harming others to benefit oneself. However, the phrase is an idiomatic, somewhat archaic economic term whose domain-specific meaning ('policy that advantages one country at others' expense) and conventional phrasing (beggar-my-/thy-neighbour) are not fully predictable for a B1 learner, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Beggar-my-neighbor strategy comes from a simple image: imagine a country or company that does things to make its neighbor a beggar so it can get more money or jobs. That's why it means 'a policy that helps your own country or group by hurting others'.