All Posts Tagged With: "competition"
Seasteading: Striking at the Root of Bad Government
Libertarians have done a wonderful job of pointing out the inefficiency and cruelty of government and identifying some of the causes. We know that current policies are bad; we know that such policies are the inevitable outcome of unrestrained democracy; and we even have some ideas about what would work better. The most fundamental problem [...]
24Feb2011 | and Patri Friedman | 11 comments | ContinuedAsk Not For Whom the Drug Tolls
“Fifty years ago, it made sense to assert that mental illnesses are not diseases, but it makes no sense to say so today. Debate about what counts as mental illness has been replaced by legislation about the medicalization and demedicalization of behavior. Old diseases such as homosexuality and hysteria disappear. New diseases such as gambling [...]
22Dec2010 | Wendy McElroy | 13 comments | ContinuedRules, Regulation, and Mixed Martial Arts
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) illustrates well the benefits of limiting rules and regulations, and provides an example of immense success despite—rather than because of—government intervention. The UFC, which hosts mixed martial arts (MMA) events, has grown immensely popular in recent years. In the early years, the mid-1990s, the sport had a limited number of [...]
24Nov2010 | and Thomas Snyder | 4 comments | ContinuedEntrepreneurs Under Attack
Every day, federal, state, and local governments stifle small businesses to privilege well-connected incumbent companies. It’s a system of protectionism for influential insiders who don’t want competition. Every locality has its share of business moguls who are cozy with politicians. Together, they use the power of government to keep competition down and prices high. The [...]
24Nov2010 | John Stossel | 10 comments | ContinuedIs the Decline of Newspapers a Market Failure?
Over the past year there has been a flurry of government-related activity aimed at stopping the decline of the newspaper business. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has held three series of workshops on the subject, drawing dozens of top academics, national politicians, business leaders from companies like Google and News Corporation, and the FTC commissioners [...]
22Sep2010 | Edward J. López | 6 comments | ContinuedPublic Schools through the Public Choice Lens
Regarding the state of government (“public”) schooling in the United States today, two facts stand out. The first is that the average amount of money spent per pupil has dramatically increased during the past 35 years and is now one of the highest in the world, and the second is that student achievement, by both [...]
22Sep2010 | Michael Bors | 7 comments | ContinuedRegulatory Failure by the Numbers
Between the current financial mess and the debate over carbon dioxide emissions controls, there is a lot of talk about regulation these days. We are told, for example, that the recession would have been prevented if proper regulations had been in place. While it is true that (by definition) the “right” regulations would have prevented [...]
25Aug2010 | and Robert L. Bradley Jr. | 5 comments | ContinuedCapital Letters
Can There Be Free Trade in a Mixed Economy? To the Editor: Although I don’t see any flaws in your arguments about the theory of free trade in your column for the April 2004 issue of The Freeman, you should at least acknowledge the distortions in most any nation’s economy because of government intervention and [...]
5Jul2010 | FEE Admin | 0 comments | ContinuedBusinessmen on Business Values
A Cato Institute report issued last October estimates corporate welfare at $87 billion in 2001. That’s 30 percent bigger than Cato’s previous 1997 corporate welfare estimate of $65 billion. Welfare for business? Business in bed with the state? What goes on? (See Stephen Slivinski, “The Corporate Welfare Budget: Bigger Than Ever,” Cato Policy Analysis No. [...]
30Jun2010 | William H. Peterson | 0 comments | ContinuedMarket-Based Higher Education
As experience continues to prove that private industry can do things more cost effectively and with better customer satisfaction than governmental entities, debate has shifted to what functions are appropriately in the government’s realm. Over the past several decades various institutions have arisen to challenge the notion that higher education is among the activities that [...]
29Jun2010 | Keith Wade | 1 comment | ContinuedA Free-Market Energy Vision
Energy is the master resource. Without it other resources could not be produced or consumed. Even energy requires energy: There would not be usable oil, gas, or coal without the energy to manufacture and power the requisite tools and machinery. Nor would there be wind turbines or solar panels, which are monuments to embedded fossil-fuel [...]
29Jun2010 | Robert L. Bradley Jr. | 5 comments | ContinuedCompetition and Cooperation
Competition and cooperation are often juxtaposed, yet in the market they are two sides of the same activity.
10Jun2010 | Steven Horwitz | 4 comments | ContinuedCompetition and the Limits of Sports Analogies
Unlike in sports where for every win there is a loss, in economic competition, a win by one firm is not completely offset by a loss for another.
3Jun2010 | Steven Horwitz | 8 comments | ContinuedThe Right to Work
The people of Louisiana must sleep soundly knowing that their state protects them from . . . unlicensed florists. That’s right. In Louisiana, you can’t sell flower arrangements unless you have permission from the government. How do you get permission? You must pass a test graded by a board of florists who already have licenses. [...]
20May2010 | John Stossel | 16 comments | ContinuedNuclear Energy Should Be Subsidized?
In a March 5 Los Angeles Times op-ed, “Jump-starting Nuclear Energy,” Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore, who now co-chairs the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, lauds the Obama administration for its decision to “guarantee loans for two advance-design nuclear plants in Georgia.” Nuclear energy diversifies our energy portfolio and doesn’t pollute the air the way fossil [...]
20May2010 | Art Carden and Mike Hammock | 9 comments | ContinuedTheodore Roosevelt, Big-Government Man
Theodore Roosevelt has been known as “the Good Roosevelt,” “the Republican Roosevelt,” and “the conservative Roosevelt,” as distinguished from his fifth cousin Franklin, who’s credited with ushering in modern American big government. Yet promoters of big government have long recognized TR as one of their own. Biographer Frank Freidel wrote that “While at Groton [Franklin [...]
24Feb2010 | Jim Powell | 7 comments | ContinuedAnother Mystery of the Universe
In an actual free market who would buy medical coverage from a company with a reputation for trying never to pay claims or dropping customers after they get sick?
24Nov2009 | Sheldon Richman | 0 comments | Continued-
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