All Posts Tagged With: "public goods"
Growing Government Ensures “National Greatness”?
There is widespread belief among politicians, public officials, and pundits that if government doesn’t give us the seeds, nothing will grow. A friend of mine served on our city’s legislative council for eight years. During that time he often heard—in defense of tax-funded business incentives—“If we don’t do something, nothing will happen.” The same belief [...]
21Sep2011 | Arthur E. Foulkes | 6 comments | ContinuedClassical Liberalism in the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Norman P. Barry
Longtime readers of The Freeman may have noticed the absence of articles by Norman Barry. A contributing editor, Barry died in October 2008, at the age of 64. (His last Freeman article, “The Americanization of Japan,” was published in May 2007). This splendid volume, which had been in the works before Barry’s death, contains one [...]
22Oct2010 | George C. Leef | 0 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 | ContinuedBowling Alone
Many afternoons my junior high school friends and I assembled at the Bloomfield (Connecticut) Bowling Alley to plunk down our quarters for shoe rental and then to bowl a few strings. So as not to make that four-mile bike ride in vain, we scheduled our outings to avoid conflict with the various leagues that had [...]
30Jun2010 | Loren Lomasky | 0 comments | ContinuedIs the Decline of Newspapers a Market Failure?
Old journalism is failing not because it is a public good that government has not adequately funded but because it is being replaced with more innovative alternatives.
29Jun2010 | Edward J. López | 14 comments | ContinuedFixing Global Warming for Fun If Not Profit
Amateur global-warming skeptics can make me uncomfortable.
4Jun2010 | Sheldon Richman | 27 comments | ContinuedThe Private Provision of Public Goods
Nobel laureate economist Elinor Ostrom’s important work shows that people are very good at using voluntary action to solve problems that economics textbooks insist require the forceful hand of government. Producing “public goods” (such as irrigation systems for a community of farmers) often promises large enough gains to stir the creative juices of people—who, given [...]
20May2010 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 5 comments | ContinuedA Family of Heroes
In any major city, particularly a capital, the great majority of statues and memorials pay tribute to monarchs and presidents, priests, generals, and statesmen. This reflects the way history is commonly understood and taught: as the story of the achievements of those associated with political power, government, and war. Memorials to the historical figures associated [...]
23Sep2009 | Stephen Davies | 8 comments | ContinuedModern Liberty and the Limits of Government
By Charles Fried Reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling
1Apr2007 | FEE Admin | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Supreme Court and the End of Limited Government
The Supreme Court ruling permitting governments
forcibly to transfer property through eminent
domain from one private party to another
for the sake of economic development did not come out
of the blue. Although the Takings Clause in the Fifth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifies “nor shall
private property be taken for public use without just
compensation,” the “Court long ago rejected any literal
requirement that condemned property be put into use
for the general public” (Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff,
1984, cited in the current case, Kelo v. City of New
London).
The Cure Can Be Worse than the Disease
Last month I discussed the prisoners’ dilemma, in which everyone is motivated to behave in a way that leaves everyone worse off. One can appreciate market exchange by understanding how private property and voluntary exchange eliminate a destructive prisoners’ dilemma–one in which the best choice for everyone is to try to live at everyone else’s [...]
1Mar2002 | Dwight R. Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Paradox of Carnegie Libraries
Chris Cardiff is a homeschooling father of three spirited girls and a vice president of AOL. Neither AOL nor his family necessarily endorses his views. People with a weak grasp of history are aghast when someone questions one of their fundamental assumptions. Questioning the public-goods theory of government-owned-and-operated libraries seems to shut down a conversation [...]
1Oct2001 | Chris Cardiff | 2 comments | ContinuedAre People Pleased with the Efficient Amount of Pollution?
It is clear that zero pollution is not a reasonable goal once we recognize that polluting creates benefits as well as costs. Long before we reduced pollution to zero, there would be so much environmental quality and so few manufactured goods that the marginal value gained from increasing pollution would be greater than the marginal cost.
1Jun2001 | Dwight R. Lee | 1 comment | ContinuedWHO’s Hidden Agenda
Twila Brase, R.N., is president of the Citizens’ Council on Health Care in St. Paul, Minnesota (www.cchcmin.org). The World Health Organization (WHO) didn’t blink twice before shooting down the United States’ world-class health-care system. In a recently released report, “The World Health Report 2000—Health Systems: Improving Performance,” the WHO ranked the overall performance of the [...]
1Dec2000 | Twila Brase | 0 comments | ContinuedEconomics on Trial
The lighthouse example has been highlighted as a classic public good in Paul Samuelson’s famous textbook since 1964. “Its beam helps everyone in sight. A businessman could not build it for a profit, since he cannot claim a price for each user.”[1]
1Aug2000 | Mark Skousen | 0 comments | ContinuedCan Government Deliver the Goods?
Hugh Macaulay is Alumni Professor of Economics Emeritus at Clemson University. Students in their first course in economics learn that every country faces three problems that it must resolve. What goods will be produced? How will it produce these goods? and, who will get the goods produced? Since the questions deal with economic matters, it [...]
1Jan1999 | Hugh Macaulay | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Economic Laws of Scientific Research by Terence Kealey
New York: St. Martin’s Press • 1996 • 396 pages • $75.00 cloth; $19.95 paperback Americans have come to accept that a vast number of important functions can only be done if they are run by or at least subsidized by the state. According to conventional wisdom, government has to provide lighthouses, bus service, income [...]
1Oct1997 | George C. Leef | 1 comment | Continued-
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