History provides very few actual examples of private firms that are unprotected by government-erected barriers to entry successfully colluding in ways that harm consumers.
Donald J. Boudreaux
Donald J. Boudreaux is a senior fellow with American Institute for Economic Research and with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; a Mercatus Center Board Member; and a professor of economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University. He is the author of the books The Essential Hayek, Globalization, Hypocrites and Half-Wits. He writes a blog called Cafe Hayek and a regular column on economics for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Boudreaux earned a PhD in economics from Auburn University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.
The So-Called “Trade Deficit”
The conventional tale of trade deficits fails so utterly to square with reality because tellers of this conventional tale never seriously bother to attempt to understand why foreigners are willing, decade after decade, to send to America more goods and services than they receive in return from America.
On the Mercantilist and Monarchial Origins of the Concept of the ‘Balance of Trade’
Describing as “favorable” a situation in which the people of the home country ship many real goods and services to foreigners and receive in exchange lesser amounts of real goods and services, with the difference made up in money, is indeed – as Adam Smith called it – absurd.
Cleaned by Capitalism and Soiled by Socialism
Another example of “Soiled by Socialism” is government-mandated low-flow water faucets, showerheads, and toilets.
“Common Good Capitalism” vs. Capitalism
Far from ordinary Americans being crushed in the last few decades by globalization and the entrepreneurial dynamism ordinary Americans’ economic opportunities have expanded and their standard of living has skyrocketed.
Unilateral Free Trade: An Open Letter to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Advocate and work for a removal of all protective barriers erected by the British government without concern for whether governments in the US and elsewhere follow suit. Were you to pursue a policy of unilateral free trade, you would honor – by following it – Britain’s glorious free-trade tradition.
The Knowledge Problem: National Conservative Industrial Policy vs. Capitalism’s Free Market
National conservatives believe that the allocation of resources brought about by the free market is in fact a less-efficient allocation — one that is worse for the country — than is the allocation that would be brought about by their industrial policy.
The Amazing Benefits of International Trade
Trade allows each of us to turn our unique talents into the fruits of the talents of everyone with whom we trade.
Individuals, Not Government Subsidies & Tariffs, Have a Comparative Advantage at Improving Comparative Advantages
There is no plausible case to be made that for us Americans to improve our comparative advantages, we need the government to protect any of us from foreign competition, other than the protection of individual rights.
Is the Wealth of American Capitalism the Result of Slavery?
“No, Sarah, Our Prosperity Wasn’t Extracted from Slaves”
California Government’s Myopic Antitrust Action Against Amazon
Amazon has made its platform so attractive to third-party merchants that large numbers of them willingly pay a premium in order to continue to use Amazon’s platform.
The Ominous Parallels Between Climate and COVID ‘Science’
The ominous parallels between the mainstream narrative on the climate and the mainstream narrative on covid.
Four Amazing Differences (Thanks To Capitalism)
four ways in which the lives of those of us in the modern, capitalist world differ categorically from the lives of almost everyone until just a few centuries ago.
Robert Reich (and Fauci) are Wildly Wrong About Judge Mizelle’s Ruling Against the CDC’s Mask Mandate
Robert Reich skates alarmingly close to implicitly endorsing a totalitarian proposition that Fauci recently endorsed explicitly – namely, that government-employed public-health bureaucrats are above the law.
On Skepticism of Covid-19 Vaccines
Vaccination against Covid is today insisted upon with the same fervor that religious zealots centuries ago exhibited when insisting upon the truths of their particular dogmas. If governments and public-health officials are looking for people to blame for vaccine hesitancy, they need only look in the mirror.
Only ‘Antitrust’ Policy That’s Needed is Freedom of Entry
Antitrust blocks the competitive process. It does so by substituting the meager knowledge and imaginations of economists, lawyers, courts, bureaucrats, and politicians for the actual, creative head-to-head competition that occurs within markets.
The Inevitable Failure of Socialism
“As soon as one gives up the conception of a freely established monetary price for goods of a higher order, rational production becomes completely impossible.” – Ludwig Von Mises
What Is Comparative Advantage?
Your building your own deck would be worthwhile only if your cost of doing so is less than the cost of having someone else, such as Jones, build it for you.
The Case Against Immigration Quotas
If quotas on immigration are an essential tool for protecting us Americans from being terrorized on our own soil, why do we still have no quotas on foreigners who come to America as visitors? Must someone be a resident of the U.S. in order to unleash terror in America?
Case for Unilateral Free Trade (with Exceptions)
The coherent and correct case for free trade is, again, a case for unilateral free trade, one that applies to each country individually (with exceptions for isolated circumstances such as national defense).
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