everyone’s assessment of the value of a good or service at a point in time. If competition is allowed to take place, prices tell the truth. When governments control customer loyalty. To head off possible price-gouging accusations, Wal-Mart has a policy of regional price freezes during times of crisis. This is an inconvenience for
and money, financial self-interest and the profit motive, the freedoms of economic competition and economic inequality, the price system, economic progress, and a succinctly in a series of lectures which were published posthumously as Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow . He notes that “this is the fundamental
their options and opportunities is not the answer. In the internationally competitive global labor market, people earn wages equal to the value of their working in the United States for eight weeks. This suggests that the appropriate policy is not to strengthen labor standards but to open borders and allow people to
about free trade. As a signatory to a petition to protest Hoover-era trade policies (like the Smoot-Hawley Tariff), I was dismayed. The implications of a shift to Henry Hazlitt, the “art of economics” consists of tracing the effect of any policy to all groups rather than its effect on specialized interests. Buying local of consumer protection — to use government regulation as a bludgeon to reduce competition. In other words, the costs of political solutions may well exceed the
in recent years because of its recent turn toward political rather than economic competition. Wal-Mart has gotten subsidies from local governments in the form of tax What Might Missouri Expect from Passage of Proposition B?” Show-Me Institute Policy Study #2. Available online . (Accessed October 2, 2006.) Neumark, David,
just what people can accomplish. Vegas is probably where it is in part because of policies that have distorted markets for water and land, but Vegas still represents a privileges from a powerful ruler, but by buying and selling things people want in competitive markets. That’s what sets them apart from organizations in traditional
— are good for the economy. Further, this examination will help us understand how policy changes alter incentives. Finally, it will shed light on features of the New and political expediency ruled the day: It didn’t bother [Roosevelt] that New Deal policies contradicted one another. When an adviser gave FDR two different drafts of a is not merely beyond political leaders’ grasp but that can only be revealed by the competitive market process. As we move further into the 21st century, I can only hope
alternative measures of environmental impact do not provide reliable guides to policy. Even proposals that take at least some advantage of the price mechanism, like for rational calculation (Hayek, 1945, p. 525), and Hayek (2002) argued that competition is “a discovery procedure” whereby information that cannot be known by a
of farmworkers and their families.” This is precisely wrong. Taco Bell’s wage policy alleviates the “continued misery of farmworkers and their families” rather they should be prosecuted. This may give us a reason to re-evaluate immigration policy. Many migrant farm workers come to this country illegally. Since they do not The US government is under no obligation to enforce his contracts or agreements. Competitive markets for contract enforcement would mean more enforcement, higher
is seen. We must also consider that which is not seen — the hidden effects of a policy like rent control. And there is plenty that is not seen in the case of rent (people waiting in line for the good, in this case, apartments) and nonprice competition will set in. People will try to get apartments by making bribes or other
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.