Tag: Economics
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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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Regulation for the sake of business
There are many examples of how the conventional wisdom regarding regulation is wrong, That wisdom being Republicans and conservatives are in bed with government, seeking to unshackle business from the burden of government regulation. Democrats and liberals, on the other hand, are busily crafting regulations to protect the middle class from the evils of big…
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In Kansas, tax reform is about job creation
Two groups working to create a more competitive economic environment in Kansas are Americans for Prosperity, Kansas and Kansas Policy Institute. Their video commercial from earlier this year that explains the urgent situation in Kansas is below.
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Rich States, Poor States 2012 edition released
This month American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) released the fifth edition of Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index. As in the past, Kansas performs in the middle of the pack in one measure, below average in another, with little or no progress achieved in making Kansas competitive with other states.
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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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Wichita may choose more centralized planning
This Tuesday the Wichita City Council will consider its participation in the REAP sustainable communities planning process. Wichita ought to reject this expansion of centralized planning, as the outcome will likely serve special interests at the expense of economic growth and jobs for everyone else.
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Hauser’s law, or raising taxes won’t work
Hauser’s law illustrates that raising tax rates doesn’t generate more revenue.
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Thinking beyond stage one in economic development for Wichita
It’s hard to think beyond stage one. It requires considering not only the seen, but also the unseen, as Frederic Bastiat taught us in his famous parable of the broken window. But over and over we see how politicians at all levels of government stop thinking at stage one. This is one of the many…