Other than being rich and famous, what do David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Sam Donaldson and Scottie Pippen have in common? They all feed at the public trough. More precisely, they collect subsidies from the federal farm program, as do at least 14 members of Congress....
MARKETS
Barriers To Entry
How badly flawed are the concepts of freedom of entry, monopoly, and competition that underlie the theory and practice of antitrust.
What is Economics?
To know what economics is, we must first know what an economy is. Perhaps most of us think of an economy as a system for the production and distribution of the goods and services we use in everyday life. That is true as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough....
A Dynamite Economics Department
Reporting their findings in the February 2001 Applied Economics Letters — a British professional journal — Professors Franklin G. Mixon Jr. and Kamal P. Upadhyaya rank economics departments in the U.S. South. The rankings are based upon faculty research...
Microsoft Goes to School: You’re An Evil Predator; Now Teach My Kids
The settlement of the Microsoft anti-trust case got interesting this week — and developments revealed the laughably absurd nature of much of the suit against the company. Reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere revealed that...
The Economics of War
National emergencies are notorious for giving free reign to bad economics. In the panic of a crisis, people grasp desperately for solutions. And thanks to generations of bad economics education, they are offered a wide range of economic errors to grasp at. The most...
Forty Centuries of Wage and Price Controls
Even the Department of Energy’s study found that price caps — which, let’s not forget, are what got California into this mess in the first place — won’t improve the energy situation. In fact, they’ll likely make it worse. The study...
The “Trickle Down” Economics Straw Man
Among the suggestions being made for getting the American economy moving up again is a reduction in the capital gains tax. But any such suggestion makes people on the left go ballistic. It is “trickle down” economics, they cry. Liberals claim that those...
Microsoft: Out of the Fire and Back Into the Frying Pan
First the good news: The new administration’s officials in the Department of Justice have decided not to murder the Microsoft Corporation and carve up its corpse. Now the bad news: They have chosen the more humane option of slow torture. The Justice...
What is Economics?
To know what economics is, we must first know what an economy is. Perhaps most of us think of an economy as a system for the production and distribution of the goods and services we use in everyday life. That is true as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough....
The Defrauders Next Door: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Fraud is so inherent to the operation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that “HUD Scandal” might as well be one word. The latest hudscandal involves a feel-good program (what else?) for cops and teachers. Since 1997, police officers...
Housing and Overpopulation: Shocked by the Obvious
The obvious makes headlines in California. Maybe this shows that a sense of reality or common sense is not something that can be taken for granted among Californians. A recent headline stretching across the top of the front page announced that “Population dwarfs...
How Microsoft Competes
Beside Bill Gates, what does Microsoft have that contributes to their success? The authors spent a couple of years trying to find out. Their conclusions: seven complementary strategies and a small set of basic principals of operation. First, find smart people who know...
Free Trade with a Slave State?
Q: Should a free country trade with people who live under a dictatorship (e.g. China, Cuba)? And, if not, should the government of the free country restrict such trade with dictatorships? A: If you enjoy living in a free country, then you benefit from that freedom...
New State Regulations During ‘Deregulation’ are the Cause of California’s Energy Crisis
The attacks against deregulation of the California power industry by the enemies of capitalism are attacks against a straw man. Deregulation means that government removes onerous regulations that violate the rights of producers and consumers to trade freely (markets...
Basic Economics
Dr. Thomas Sowell has just released his latest treasure — it’s title is “Basic Economics.” Reading through the book reminded me of a 30-plus-year-old conversation I had with Professor Armen Alchian, one of my tenacious mentors during my...
Price Controls and the Electricity Crisis in California
It was only a passing news item when the financial information service Standard & Poor’s lowered the rating it gave to bonds issued by the state of California. But it has big implications and it also shows the big difference between economics and politics....
Free Trade: Why Think Local When You Can Go Global?
If Bush administration officials think they have their hands full shepherding the president’s tax-cut package through a closely divided Congress, wait until they turn their full attention to reviving a moribund U.S. trade policy. As U.S. Trade Representative...
Let There Be Free Trade
Leaders of 34 American countries are meeting this weekend in Quebec City at the Summit of the Americas to discuss the establishment of a free trade zone extending from Canada to Chile. A Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a top priority of the Bush...
Price Controls and the California Blackouts: An Old Problem Returns
The last time so many people were as bedeviled as the people of California are today by electrical blackouts was back in 1979, when motorists in cities across the country were lined up for hours at filling stations, waiting to get gas. Both shortages had the same...
The Antitrust Laws Require the Government To Initiate Force Against Innocent Citizens
The antitrust laws are thus a palpably unjust legal doctrine, and respect for individual rights demands that the District Court’s judgment against Microsoft be reversed and the antitrust laws held invalid and unconstitutional.
Equal Rights and Good Economics Demand That Bush Should Reduce Taxes Across The Board
The Federal Reserve Board’s recent decision to put downward pressure on interest rates has temporarily quieted those who claimed George W. Bush was exaggerating the possibility of an economic downturn solely to boost his tax cut plan. Many critics, however,...
Microsoft Assault is an Inept Stab at “Industrial Policy”
The federal government’s persecution of Microsoft is a travesty–the worst combination of third-rate economics and special- interest politics. Last year’s ruling against the company may be a victory for envy-driven bureaucrats at the U.S. Justice...
Basic Economics
One of the reasons for the confusion surrounding so many economic issues — such as the current electricity crisis in California — is an underlying confusion about what economics itself is all about. To many people, economics is about money. But economies...
California’s Antitrust “Deregulation” of the Power Industry
The power crisis in California now threatens to shut down Silicon Valley–and if Silicon Valley goes, it could end up shutting down America’s economy. To save itself — and the rest of us — what should California do? That depends on what the...
Microsoft and the Mythology of Anti-trust
The biggest question about anti-trust law is whether there really is any such thing. There are anti-trust theories and anti-trust rhetoric, as well as judicial pronouncements on anti-trust. But there is very little that could be called law in the full sense of rules...
The Cause of the California Electricity Shortages: “Price Controls”
As an economist, whenever I hear the word “shortage” I wait for the other shoe to drop. That other shoe is usually “price control.” So it was no great surprise to discover, after the electric power shortage in California made headlines, that...
Microsoft and Liberty
Think about the government’s case against Microsoft and, just as importantly, it’s implications for our liberty. Let’s ask a general question just to get started. If there’s an act we all agree is immoral and unacceptable when done by an...
TAFOL Files An Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) Brief Supporting The Microsoft Corporation
The Microsoft antitrust case represents a breathtaking and frightening extension of antitrust law to a new American technological industry that is the envy of the rest of the world.
“Protectionism” vs. Human Rights
Is the protection of domestic jobs more important than the protection of individual rights?
Law and Economics
Rather than my usual fall schedule of teaching in the Economics Department at George Mason University, I taught “The Economic Foundations of Legal Studies” at the university’s School of Law to first-year law students. Economics is no stranger at...
Is Microsoft a Hypocrite?
I was saddened to see the lead article in last Tuesday’s (12/5/00) Wall St. Journal “Microsoft Tries to Lob Monkey Wrench Into AOL-Time Warner Deal.” In the story, reporters alleged Microsoft might be cooperating with the Federal Trade Commission to...
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