Homines libenter quod volunt credunt
Posted in Health Care, Regulation, trade on Sep 9th, 2010
It is believed that the strict medical school admissions standards and state licensing procedures for doctors favor the creation of better trained doctors and a medical establishment that is, on average, of higher quality than if we did not have such a restrictive licensing system. This raises two issues for me. The first is a […]
Posted in trade on Aug 8th, 2010
I’d like to hear protectionist politicians on the stump this Fall arguing that, “we need to make trade fairer, we need to roll back NAFTA in order to put Mexican women back in their place “save” American jobs . … we examine the impact of trade liberalization policies on women’s labor market outcomes in Mexico. […]
Posted in trade on May 12th, 2010
One of the great myths perpetuated on high school students in History classes is that unions were formed by concerned workers in order to protect themselves from the vicious capitalists of the day. We’ll explore the claim of exploitation in a future post. For now, let’s start by recognizing a simple micro-economic insight: relative prices […]
Posted in Corporatism, Economic Illiteracy, trade, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Apr 2nd, 2010
Do you really believe that your elected officials are acting in your interest? Do you really believe that when they tax you, when they offer up protectionist measures, when they bail out financial institutions, when they fund schools that teach cinema majors but cut nursing programs, etc. that these are programs working in your benefit? […]
From the time of the Republic’s founding right up until World War I, the tariff (a tax on foreign goods and services sold in the United States) was the major funding source for the federal government. In fact, from 1790 through 1913 the median amount of federal expenditures financed via tariffs was 76%. In some […]
Here is Zhong Shan, the Vice Minister of Commerce in the People’s Republic of China: The government protects the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors in accordance with laws. This is true – no foreign company has had assets expropriated since Mao was in office. And the US, you know, just has a wonderful […]
Posted in trade on Jan 9th, 2010
A loyal reader and commenter Harry referenced Bastiat’s Negative Railroad. It is worth quoting nearly the entire passage: There should be a break in the railroad from Paris to Bayonne at Bordeaux; for, if goods and passengers are forced to stop at that city, this will be profitable for boatmen, porters, owners of hotels, etc. […]
Posted in trade on Dec 21st, 2009
After all, just think of all the candle manufacturers he killed. HT to Galen Dole (what follows is his commentary). How many candle makers were put out of business by Thomas Edison? In my answer to this question, I will assume that all candles before Edison’s time were used exclusively for lighting purposes, and will […]
Posted in ethical foundations, trade, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Nov 5th, 2009
I am opposed to coercive redistribution on both moral and practical grounds. However, suppose a bleeding-heart were to convince me that it is “just” to stick a gun in my face and force me to part with my earnings, and further, that they were to decide how to be charitable on my behalf and that […]
Posted in trade, You Can't Have it Both Ways on Sep 29th, 2009
I’d be willing to wager that a majority of the people who hold the view that, “money doesn’t make you happier, you certainly cannot eat it,” also support a variety of protectionist measures. You know, putting heavy taxes on Chinese tires to make sure American workers keep their higher incomes, or putting heavy taxes on […]