Protectionism always requires an “evil eye and an unequal hand” of the bureaucratic managers who are entrusted with economic regulation.1 More often than not, government regulators with good intentions trigger massive breakdowns within an all-inclusive market economy, leading to results that nobody desires — what Mises aptly termed “planned cha
My most recent Forbes piece explains how to use the economic way of thinking to ruin Christmas. In this light, I found Steven Landsburg’s take on Yoram Bauman’s claim in the New York Times that economics increases Grinchiness especially interesting.
AT&T has ceased its attempt to buy T-Mobile after—you guessed it—”the government raised concerns that it would raise prices, reduce innovation and give customers fewer choices.”
Consumers and entrepreneurs often speak of “the cost of money” when referring to interest rates. Modern lenders also refer to the interest they charge as “loan pricing.” Viewed this way, interest is viewed as if it were any other good. The cheaper a good the more affordable it is. And so the lower the interest rate, the more affordable. By dictating key interest rates, modern central bankers are believed to be alchemists, lowering interest rates to magically transform scarcity into prosperity.
Paul Krugman is at it again. This time attacking Ron Paul and his Austrian economics (probably a very good sign). He claims that Ron is only consistent because he ignores reality. In fact, “reality” has only demonstrated the correctness of Ron’s views.
Jeffrey Trachtenberg writes for the Wall Street Journal that consumers buying digital books are experiencing sticker shock. While the price of readers has plummeted, the price of ebooks has increased.
Trachtenberg explains,
“MF Global’s Fractional Reserves” by Doug French Free bankers are always insisting that fractional-reserve banking is A-OK, as long as bankers inform depositors up front that the bank will be using their customers’ money to make loans and investments. |
Robert Higgs introduced the concept of “regime uncertainty”, government policies and actions that threaten property rights, in his outstanding paper, Regime Uncertainty: Why the Great Depression Lasted So Long and Why Prosperity Resumed after the War to explain the depth and duration of the Great Depression with special attention to the “Roosevelt recession” of 1937 to 1938, a recession within a depression.
