All Posts Tagged With: "competition"
The Problem with Privatization
If the goal is efficiency in delivering the goods, private ownership is a necessary but not a sufficient condition.
26Jan2012 | Steven Horwitz | 27 comments | ContinuedSome Sins of Textbook Economics
People who are ignorant of economics are susceptible to all sorts of misunderstandings. Fortunately knowledge of even just the basics of sound economics is a powerful inoculant against many dangerous falsehoods and half-truths. This fact, however, does not imply that exposure to more economics is necessarily good. The sad reality is that economists too often [...]
4Jan2012 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 12 comments | ContinuedTaxi Regulation and the Failures of Progressivism
As the American people head into another election year some will be puzzled by the rise and the staying power of Progressive ideals—according to which government manages the private economy supposedly for the social welfare. But in truth they’ve been operating at the local level for more than a century. Overestimating the power of Progressive [...]
4Jan2012 | Samuel R. Staley | 2 comments | ContinuedSafe Toasters and Toxic Financial Assets
If we want our financial system to be as reliable as our toasters, we need more market competition and less of the heavy hand of the State.
27Oct2011 | Steven Horwitz | 7 comments | ContinuedThe Importance of Failure
In today’s society failure has become something to fear, avoid, and therefore prevent at all costs. Whether it is unemployment compensation, farm subsidies, or bailouts for failing companies, the world seems to view failure as having no redeeming social value. If success is all good and failure is all bad, then it seems as though [...]
26Oct2011 | and Steven Horwitz | 11 comments | ContinuedThe Battle to Save American Street Vending
Larry Miller and Stanley Hambrick are classic American entrepreneurs. Both men started their businesses from scratch, and for more than 20 years they’ve been living their American Dreams. They each own and operate popular vending stands outside Turner Field in Atlanta, serving baseball fans with tasty snacks, fully licensed Braves merchandise, parody shirts, and other [...]
26Oct2011 | Bob Ewing | 11 comments | ContinuedSteve Jobs, Entrepreneur
We can see in Steve Jobs the Misesian entrepreneur. In a variety of ways he blazed trails and brought forth products that make our lives more pleasant, more productive — more fun.
7Oct2011 | Sheldon Richman | 10 comments | ContinuedThe Many Monopolies
We libertarians defend economic freedom, not big business. We advocate free markets, not the corporate economy. And what would freed markets look like? Nothing like the controlled markets we have today. But how often do we hear mass unemployment, financial crisis, ecological catastrophe, and the economic status quo attributed to the voraciousness of “unfettered free [...]
24Aug2011 | Charles Johnson | 19 comments | ContinuedThe Cancer of Regulation
Politicians care about poor people. I know because they always say that. But then why do they make it so hard for the poor to escape poverty? Licensing, for example, prices poor people out of business. Take taxis: in New York City, you have to buy a license, or “medallion.” New York restricts the number [...]
24Aug2011 | John Stossel | 3 comments | ContinuedIndigenous African Free-Market Liberalism
Africa remains an enigmatic paradox: a continent rich in mineral resources yet so desperately poor. But the paradox is only superficial: Africa is poor because she is not free. Only 10 of the 54 African countries can be labeled economic success stories: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Uganda, and South Africa. This [...]
24Aug2011 | George B. N. Ayittey | 5 comments | ContinuedSardines at Midnight
Sardines at midnight? If the mood should strike me, I can zip down to the local Safeway store here in Belmont, California, which is open 24/7, and be back with a can in 20 minutes. My biggest problem would be choosing from among Thai, Canadian, Polish, or Norwegian sardines packed in water, olive oil, tomato-basil, [...]
24Aug2011 | Warren C. Gibson | 3 comments | ContinuedForked-Tongued Washington Government
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies and still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by the Department of Justice. The Act contains two important provisions. Section 1 outlaws contracts and conspiracies in restraint of trade. Section 2 prohibits monopolization and attempts to monopolize. Most [...]
24Aug2011 | Walter E. Williams | 3 comments | ContinuedThe Breezes of Creative Destruction
As dramatic as the news of Borders’s closing has been, in the larger scheme of things economic change happens fairly slowly, at least compared to changes caused by governments.
26Jul2011 | Sandy Ikeda | 7 comments | ContinuedA Battle that Everyone Wins
Google’s ability to create a meaningful competitor is what will force Facebook to innovate, even if Google+ fails in the long run.
14Jul2011 | Steven Horwitz | 24 comments | ContinuedCompetition and Monopoly: A Refresher
“Gym Now Stresses Cooperation, Not Competition,” blared a headline in the New York Times a decade ago. The story was about an elementary school where “confrontational” games, team sports, and elimination rounds were changed or scrapped so that differences between students’ athletic abilities would be minimized. Perhaps this is fine for grade-school gym class, but [...]
21Apr2011 | Lawrence W. Reed | 2 comments | ContinuedWisconsin Labor Brouhaha
Wisconsin’s been through quite a row. The new governor, elected without the support of most government-employee unions, proposed to cut back the scope of collective bargaining for most state workers. Gov. Scott Walker says the budget measure is needed to save money as well as government jobs for the debt-ridden state. Is the governor’s proposal [...]
21Apr2011 | Sheldon Richman | 3 comments | ContinuedFree the Children, Cut the Budget
Education is important – far too important to leave to politicians and bureaucrats.
4Mar2011 | Sheldon Richman | 29 comments | Continued-
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