Why Government Can’t Run a Business

Posted by Marc Hodak on May 20, 2009 under Invisible trade-offs, Politics | Be the First to Comment

One of the best encapsulations I have ever read on the subject.  Sample:

Politicians need headlines. And this means they have a deep need to do something (“Sen. Snoot Moves on Widget Crisis!”), even when doing nothing would be the better option. Markets will always deal efficiently with gluts and shortages, but letting the market work doesn’t produce favorable headlines and, indeed, often produces the opposite (“Sen. Snoot Fails to Move on Widget Crisis!”).

Awesome stuff.  This article should be required reading in every school purporting to teach introductory social science.

FD:  I’ve done my part in introducing the author, John Steele Gordon, into a curriculum; he has guest lectured in my “History of Scandal” course at NYU.