Originally Posted By: ImagingGeek
The answer is obvious - when people leave their farms, and move to the city, they sell their farms. To go back they need to buy a new farm - a hard thing to do when you don't even have enough money to feed your family.


Welcome back.

So the problem isn't international trade, it's poor decision making on the part of the locals. And the solution would be more information availabilty, not economic isolation.