There is a principle in economics that says, other things being equal, one cannot improve people’s economic well-being by adding constraints to their choices. For example, tariffs add constraints by directly or indirectly increasing the prices that buyers must pay to acquire the goods that, absent the tariffs, they prefer to buy from foreign suppliers.
Author: Robert Higgs
Robert Higgs is Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute and Editor at Large of the Institute’s quarterly journal The Independent Review. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Johns Hopkins University, and he has taught at the University of Washington, Lafayette College, Seattle University, the University of Economics, Prague, and George Mason University. He has been a visiting scholar at Oxford University and Stanford University, and a fellow at the Hoover Institution and the National Science Foundation.
All Hail the Entrepreneurs (and the Carnitas They Bring Us)
This might all seem completely ordinary to you, but bear in mind that I am able to enjoy these culinary delights even though I live at the ends of the Earth, at the far reaches of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. For Lucio’s making it possible for me to live here so well, I feel much indebted to him.
Nationalism, the Ideological Delusion at the Heart of Protectionism
To ask the question is almost to answer it. People who would balk at city, state, or regional protectionism will not only tolerate national protectionism, but actually hail it as a godsend for overall national prosperity. The doctrine of nationalism, a dangerous brew in which Americans have long indulged to great excess is the cause of this bizarre public sentiment.
Good and Decent Neighbors
Many of us are trusting our neighbors much more than we should. We suppose that these neighbors would never burglarize our homes in our absence or accost us on the street and thrust upon us the choice, “Your money or your life?” And in most cases we are probably right to make these assumptions.
The Gordian Knot of Entrenched Special Interests
Some economic/governmental problems cannot be solved. Too many powerful interests have become deeply entrenched in the existing, massively complicated system constructed over many decades by political maneuvering.
Many Different “Problems,” Identical “Solution” in Every Case
These are among the many problems that people have perceived as plaguing economically advanced societies during the past century or so. They differ greatly and involve different causes, mechanisms, and consequences. Yet in every case the solution has been widely seen as the same: vastly enlarging the power of government.
The Historian and His Times
Historians are often rightly accused of carrying contemporary ideas and values back into the past and using them inappropriately to evaluate actors and institutions of bygone days. The presumption in this accusation is that historians know a lot about their own times and relatively little about former times. But such need not be the case.
Sending Their Sons and Husbands
Why do so many people accept with ease their political leaders’ declaration that the nation must go to war against X, even when X clearly is not attacking them, and must kill and die for the alleged defense of the nation?
Rhetorical Hocus Pocus
You and I owe society and nation nothing, and neither of these abstractions owes, or can owe, us anything. When national political leaders purport to place obligations on us, they are attempting to sucker us into doing what they want us to do by claiming that we have a legitimate obligation to do it.
To Operate Fairly Successfully
When socialists or their sympathizers in the USA are told that socialism doesn’t work, they often respond, “Yeah, just look at how terribly countries like Sweden, France, and Germany are working.” But these fairly successful countries do not have socialist systems