beggar-my-neighbor strategy
Noun: A national economic or trade policy designed to benefit one's own country at the expense of other nations, often by using tactics like imposing tariffs, devaluing currency, or offering subsidies to gain an unfair competitive advantage. This strategy ultimately harms global economic cooperation and can lead to retaliation.
This term is used in economics, political science, and international relations to describe and criticize short-sighted, self-serving national policies. * The economist argued that the new tariffs were a classic beggar-my-neighbor strategy that would spark trade wars. * During the crisis, several countries were accused of adopting a beggar-my-neighbor strategy through competitive devaluation.
- The term is often used in the phrase "beggar-thy-neighbor," which is an older, synonymous variant ("thy" being an archaic form of "your").
- It can function attributively (like an adjective) in phrases such as "beggar-my-neighbor tactics" or "beggar-my-neighbor policies."
- Beggar-thy-neighbor (adj/noun): An older variant with identical meaning.
- Protectionism (noun): The general policy of restricting imports to protect domestic industries, which can be a form of beggar-my-neighbor strategy.
- Zero-sum game (noun): A situation where one participant's gain is equivalent to another's loss, a concept central to this strategy.
- Predatory policy
- Mercantilist policy (in a negative, modern context)
While not a phrasal verb, the term itself is idiomatic. It derives from the name of a card game (Beggar-My-Neighbor) where the goal is to win all of an opponent's cards, leaving them with nothing. This metaphor directly informs its economic meaning.
- a policy of promoting oneself at the expense of others; used especially of national policy
- the United States has pursued a beggar-my-neighbor policy