Policy bubble alert: R&D is an investment and like all investments, it must be cost justified
07 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
‘The Left’ and Public Choice Theory
06 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
A nice roundup of the issues as to why public choice is unwelcome among those who believe in big government
The mention of public choice theory to those on ‘the left’ of politics can prompt a variety of reactions. Some are based on ignorance about the very existence of public choice economics as a theoretical perspective. This reaction was demonstrated to me following one of the first lectures I gave in my academic career. Having listened to me speak for an hour on the power of incumbent firms to ‘capture’ regulatory agencies an attending student who was an activist in the Socialist Workers Party asked me, ‘when did you become a Marxist?’ Needless to say, for someone who considers himself a radical ‘anti-Marxist’ I was taken aback by this approach! What the question exemplifies though is an attitude that is widespread in academic circles – the assumption that an interest in power imbalances that favour business interests must equate with one having leftist or socialist sympathies. The idea that there…
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Buchanan and Tullock on the rise of bourgeois virtues in the private and public sectors
05 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich: Deirdre McCloskey on economists as business consultants
05 Nov 2014 Leave a comment
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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