Archive for Gary M. Galles
Economic Facts and Fallacies
You don’t have to read far to find the focus of Thomas Sowell’s latest book, Economic Facts and Fallacies. It begins by quoting John Adams—“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence”—then immediately argues for the [...]
22Jan2009 | Gary M. Galles | 2 comments | ContinuedCompromise, Principles, and Politics
“Public servants” laud compromise as a principled and sensible political course. They call it statesmanship or bipartisanship, and portray it as the path to unity, while roundly criticizing those unwilling to compromise in the desired way. This appeal often strikes a chord with the public. (Leave aside that compromise is usually sought by legislative near-majorities [...]
1May2008 | Gary M. Galles | 1 comment | ContinuedMisunderstanding Efficiency
Gary Galles is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University.
Efficiency—getting the most value from a given amount of resources—is important in a world of scarcity. The more efficient people are, the better off they can make themselves. That’s why economists are always talking about efficiency. Unfortunately, what economists have to say on the subject is [...]
Need and Public Policy: Handle with Care
In public-policy debates the word most commonly invoked as the ace in the hole is “need.” However, “need” needs careful handling.
“Need” has the political advantage, but the logical disadvantage, of lacking a clear meaning. That allows it to be systematically abused to distort understanding and to reach desired conclusions that justify picking people’s pockets to [...]
Vindicating Voluntaryism
Voluntaryism. Other than to those who have seriously considered the overwhelming case for liberty in human affairs, the word doesn’t have a very catchy ring. As a result, it would not survive vetting by our modern gamut of political focus groups and public-relations gurus. Yet that was what Englishman Auberon Herbert used to describe and [...]
1Nov2006 | Gary M. Galles | 0 comments | ContinuedNo Yahoo! for New Shareholder Plan
Gary Galles is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University.
Last March Yahoo! announced that its board of directors had adopted a shareholder-rights plan, which it described as “designed to deter coercive takeover tactics, including the accumulation of shares in the open market or through private transactions, and to prevent an acquirer from gaining [...]
The Market for Space in the Market
Gary Galles is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
Slotting fees—payments by producers for space on retailers’ shelves—are under attack. According to Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond of Missouri, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business, which held hearings last fall, the practice “threatens competition, jobs and likely drives up the cost [...]
We Need Free Trade In Deed As Well As Word
Dr. Galles is Associate Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.
Much of the economic success of the .early United States was due to the fact that the Constitution not only restricted the federal government’s ability to hurt some citizens for the benefit of others (e.g., the takings, tax uniformity, due process, and equal [...]
Half-Truths or Consequences
Gary M. Galles is an Associate Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University.
The legitimate role of the American government is small, at best. This follows from the plain wording of the Constitution with its grant of tax power only to promote the general welfare, its brief list of enumerated powers, its prohibition against the taking [...]
Book Review: Quicksilver Capital: How The Rapid Movement Of Wealth Has Changed The World by Richard B. McKenzie and Dwight R. Lee The Free Press, 866 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10022
1991 • 315 pages • $24.95 cloth
The effects of taxation (or regulation, which is taxation in disguise) can be understood by analogy to the children’s game of dodge ball. In search of revenues, governments throw various types of taxes at their citizens. Those who can relatively easily dodge the tax burden by changing their [...]
Term-of-Office Limits Wont Reduce Government Abuse
Professor Galles teaches economics at Pepperdine University, Malibu, California.
Public outrage at an increasingly irresponsible government, especially at long-term incumbents who seem immune to re-election pressures, has led to a rising wave of sentiment to limit the number of terms elected officials can serve. An Oklahoma term limitation initiative received 67 percent of the vote [...]
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Book Reviews
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The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy–If We Let it Happen
By Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous
