Archive for Bruce L. Benson

Bruce Benson is De Voe Moore Professor and Distinguished Research Professor in the department of economics at Florida State University.

How Land-Use Planning Benefits Big Business Over Small

It is widely recognized that central-government attempts to completely plan economies (that is, totally eliminate private property rights) are destined to fail. But even lower levels of government can have debilitating impacts on an economy by undermining private property rights through planning and regulation. Indeed, as urban-policy analyst Sam Staley explains, the implications of the [...]

1May2008 | Bruce L. Benson | 2 comments | Continued

Toxic Government

Bruce Benson is senior fellow at the Independent Institute and DeVoe Moore Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at Florida State University. This is excerpted from Cutting Green Tape, edited by Richard Stroup and Roger Meiners (Transaction Publishers for the Independent Institute). Government agencies may be the largest single source of demand for potentially toxic substances. [...]

1Oct2001 | Bruce L. Benson | 2 comments | Continued

Why Crime Declines

Bruce Benson is De Voe Moore Distinguished Research Professor in the department of economics at Florida State University and author of To Serve and Protect: Privatization and Community in Criminal Justice (New York University Press, 1998). Crime in America has fallen since 1991. In that year, the reported crime rate compiled in the FBI’s Uniform [...]

1Jan2000 | Bruce L. Benson | 5 comments | Continued

The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law

In The Structure of Liberty, Boston University law professor Randy Barnett identifies the fundamental problems that must be recognized in order to create a proper foundation for society: the problems of knowledge, interest, and power. Those problems arise because both physical resources and human abilities are scarce, because altruism is limited, and because humans are [...]

1Sep1999 | Bruce L. Benson | 1 comment | Continued

Scientists Beware

Bruce Benson is DeVoe Moore Distinguished Research Professor at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Many political commentators lament the growing apathy among the voting-age population, but I do not believe apathy keeps many potential voters away from the polls. Many of us care a lot about what politicians are doing; we just don’t trust any [...]

1Apr1999 | Bruce L. Benson | 1 comment | Continued

Where Does Law Come From?

This article draws from a research project supported by the Earhart Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, and the Independent Institute. The legal scholar Lon Fuller defined law as “the enterprise of subjecting human conduct to the governance of rules.” It includes basic rules of conduct as well as institutions or mechanisms for clarifying, changing, [...]

1Dec1997 | Bruce L. Benson | 5 comments | Continued

Highway Robbery

Bruce Benson is Distinguished Professor of Economics at Florida State University. In 1863, Henry Plummer was sheriff of the gold camp at Bannock, Montana. He also organized a gang of about 100 “road agents” who stole from miners and travelers; his deputies were horse thieves, stagecoach robbers, and murderers. Citizens could do something about highway [...]

1Jul1993 | Bruce L. Benson | 1 comment | Continued

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