All Posts Tagged With: "price fixing"
“We Want to be Regulated”
Efforts in Washington to write a major climate-change law are causing some Bootlegger/Baptist coalitions to fall apart and new ones to emerge. In late September Exelon Corporation, a major electric utility, followed industry partners Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and PNM when it resigned from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber opposed the Waxman-Markey [...]
5Jan2010 | Bruce Yandle | 6 comments | ContinuedThe NRA: How Price-Fixing Perpetuated the Great Depression
The National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA) dramatically altered America’s traditional free-market system. Under the NRA, a majority of firms in any industry had government approval backed by force to determine how much a factory could expand, what wages had to be paid, the number of hours to be worked, and the prices of products. Whether or not a businessman helped write the code for his industry, he was bound by the terms and subject to a fine or jail term if he violated them.
1Apr2009 | Burton W. Folsom Jr. | 26 comments | ContinuedThe Jewel of Consistency
The acid test is that a man live by the principles he professes to believe.
1Jun2006 | Fred DeArmond | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Origin of American Farm Subsidies
In the United States how did we go from having no role for the federal government in farming to having government intertwined in all aspects of farming from planting to harvesting to selling crops? The Constitution is clear on the subject. Article 1, Section 8, provides no role for the federal government in regulating American [...]
1Apr2006 | Burton W. Folsom Jr. | 0 comments | ContinuedRepeal Davis-Bacon
After Hurricane Katrina ravaged much of the Gulf Coast, President Bush ordered the suspension of the federal Davis-Bacon Act, which mandates that workers on all federally financed construction projects of more than $2,000 (virtually all, that is) be paid the “prevailing wage” of the project location. The suspension would have covered only the parts of [...]
1Dec2005 | George C. Leef | 1 comment | ContinuedThe New Drug War
Seeking to combine the failures of the War on Drugs and the War on Poverty, the U.S. government has now embarked on the War on (Expensive) Prescription Drugs. You see, grannies crossing the northern border in search of cheaper prescription drugs are causing fits at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). U.S. District Judge Claire [...]
1Apr2004 | Adam B. Summers | 1 comment | ContinuedSocialized Medicine Is the Problem
Recently, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien changed his mind about his country’s system of socialized medicine. After long and hard opposition, he now favors a two-tier health system, including user fees and private provision. This makes it all the more important to take another look, not just at the surface of state-run medical care, but [...]
1Dec2001 | Walter Block | 6 comments | ContinuedThe California Power Mess
Years ago, California state senator Bill Richardson (not the former energy secretary) wrote an instructive little book about politicians with a charming title: What Makes You Think We Read the Bills? The electricity debacle in the Golden State makes me think there’s a need for an updated version. The title could be What Makes You Think We Read Anything at All?
1Apr2001 | Lawrence W. Reed | 0 comments | ContinuedDiscrimination and Liberty
(Editor’s Note: We herewith inaugurate a new monthly feature: The Pursuit of Happiness. Its regular contributors will be Walter Williams, one of the most prominent defenders of liberty today, and Charles Baird, an economist specializing in the freedom of workers. Guest contributors will also occupy this space.) How much should we care if people discriminate? [...]
1Apr1998 | Walter E. Williams | 1 comment | ContinuedDiscovery and Economic Freedom
Dr. Klein is associate professor of economics at Santa Clara University. This essay is a condensation of his article, “Discovery Factors of Economic Freedom: Respondence, Epiphany, and Serendipity,” in Uncertainty and Economic Evolution: Essays in Honour of Armen A. Alchian, ed. John R. Lott, Jr. (London: Routledge, 1997). Reprinted by permission of Routledge. When an [...]
1Sep1997 | Daniel B. Klein | 1 comment | Continued-
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