What if the government ran hair salons and the private sector provided auto registrations? Needless to say, getting a haircut would be a harrowing and soul-crushing experience. Meanwhile, registering your automobile would be another matter entirely.
When Mother Teresa used her Nobel Prize money to fund services for the poor, she was exhibiting “self-interest,” but not selfishness.
If the Venezuelan example of socialism’s ultimate consequences baffles anybody, it is because of how little (economic) history people remember, and how quickly its lessons are forgotten.
When Mother Teresa used her Nobel Prize money to fund services for the poor, she was exhibiting "self-interest," but not selfishness. Like virtually everyone else, she used her property to achieve an end she valued, but which benefited others as well.
It's much easier to calculate the direct cost of a tax than the many indirect costs of a government regulation. Nevertheless, government regulations remain some of the biggest millstones around the neck of human progress and ingenuity.
Patrick discusses institutional design, Bitcoin technology, and the revolutionary technological opportunities that exist behind the Blockchain.
For decades, the Italian state has facilitated the Mafia's grip on industry in Italy. The result has been a disastrous lack of foreign investment and other ills. It now seems that only the elimination of the central state could bring about serious reform.
The 2015 F.A. Hayek Memorial Lecture.
