Chapter 10. Monopoly And Competition
Chapter Summary
Consumer preferences ultimately drive a market economy; many have termed this outcome as “consumers’ sovereignty.” Yet this is an inappropriate political metaphor; on a free market, individuals have complete control over their bodies and other property.
Chapter 11. Money And Its Purchasing Power
Chapter Summary
Like all goods, the price of money is determined by the interaction between supply and demand. Money is unique in that its “price” is not a single number—in this sense the price of an ounce of gold would always be one (oz. gold). Rather, the price of a unit of money is an entire vector of the money commodity’s exchange ratios with units of every other good and service available on the market.
Chapter 12. The Economics Of Violent Intervention In The Market
Chapter Summary
In this chapter we analyze (using economic science) the effects of violations of property rights, and in particular the effects of State action, i.e., institutionalized and widespread violations.
Power And Market
GOVERNMENT AND THE ECONOMY
Chapter 1. Defense Services On The Free Market
Chapter Summary
Economists often talk of the “free market” without analyzing the nature of property rights, and in particular the legal system that would prevail in a truly free market society. Economists also typically assume that “the market” is a frail arrangement that crucially depends upon government provision of defense (broadly including military, police, and judicial services).
Chapter 2. Fundamentals Of Intervention
Chapter Outline
1. Types of Intervention
Chapter 3. Triangular Intervention
Chapter Summary
Price control occurs when the intervener attempts to influence the terms on which products or services exchange. (In contrast product control is a coercive influence on the product or service itself, including the individuals who sell it.) A price control is ineffective if its penalties do not apply because the market price falls within the legally permissible range. The rest of the analysis assumes an effective price control.
Chapter 4. Binary Intervention: Taxation
Chapter Summary
Society is composed of taxpayers and tax consumers. The tax consumers benefit from taxation while the taxpayers foot the bill. All taxation distorts resource allocation and severs “distribution” from production. The total level of taxation is far more significant than the specific forms of the tax.
Chapter 5. Binary Intervention: Government Expenditures
Chapter Summary
There has been little economic analysis of government expenditure. Although in the real world the two are always mixed, we may conceptually distinguish between pure transfers and resource-using expenditures.
All subsidies transfer income from the efficient to the inefficient and distort resource allocation. They lower overall production by (1) diverting energies into “rent seeking” and (2) lowering the incentives to produce.
Chapter 6. Antimarket Ethics: A Praxeological Critique
Chapter Summary
Praxeology is a value-free science; economics alone cannot imply value judgments. However, praxeology can demonstrate that certain ethical values either (1) rely on false propositions concerning cause and effect or (2) are conceptually impossible of fulfillment.
If we can demonstrate that X is an impossible and hence absurd goal, then it follows that any attempts to move toward X are likewise absurd, because the means derive their justification (value) from the sought end.
