Author: Guest Author
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Myth: Markets cannot possibly produce public (collective) goods
The public goods justification for the state is one of the most commonly misapplied of economic arguments. But many goods that are allegedly impossible to provide through markets have been, or are at present, provided through market mechanisms — from lighthouses to education to policing to transportation, which suggests that the common invocation of alleged…
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Myth: Markets only work when an infinite number of people with perfect information trade undifferentiated commodities
Abstract models of economic interaction can be useful, but when normatively loaded terms such as “perfect” are added to theoretical abstractions, a great deal of harm can be done. For the state to be the agency that would move markets to such “perfection,” we would expect that it, too, would be the product of “perfect”…
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Myth: Markets depend on perfect information, requiring government regulation to make information available
Markets do not require for their operation perfect information, any more than democracies do. Significantly, politicians and voters have less incentive to acquire the right amount of information than do market participants, because they aren’t spending their own money.
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Myth: Reliance on markets leads to monopoly
While many believe that free markets tend to produce monopolies, it is actually government that is the grantor and protector of monopoly rights. Market competition works against monopoly power.
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Myth: Markets promote greed and selfishness
Markets make it possible for the most altruistic, as well as the most selfish, to advance their purposes in peace, writes Tom G. Palmer.
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Myth: Markets are immoral or amoral
Are markets moral or immoral? Tom G. Palmer responds to the myth that there is no morality in market exchange.
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Attacks on ALEC hypocritical and unfair
Leftists don’t like the policies ALEC promotes, so they are using intimidation tactics to shut it down. It’s that simple. They are within their rights to do this, but let’s at least recognize that it flows not from any problem with how ALEC operates, but from the most transparent political motives.
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Kansas should improve economic climate, rely less on incentives
Kansas has a history of giving incentives to attract business. Despite this, businesses are leaving, and taking jobs and revenue with them, writes Maurice McTigue of the Mercatus Center.
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Harm of NCLB to be eclipsed
The disaster of the No Child left behind law is about to be joined by Common Core Standards, writes Dr. Walt Chappell, member, Kansas State Board of Education.