Newsletter 22 3 V1.Indd

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Newsletter 22 3 V1.Indd Newsletter of The Independent Institute Volume 22, Number 3 Fall 2012 Curing the Healthcare Crisis By John C. Goodman hould all Americans be paid for by others, who bear an undeserved cost. Srequired to have health Economically, he is imposing an external cost on insurance? The Patient Pro- others. If we let him get away with this, others tection and Affordable Care might emulate his example and the cost for the Act (PPACA) said yes. Its rest of us could grow. constitutionality aside, is a So is the solution to mandate that everyone mandate a good idea? have health insurance? On average, people with- The short answer is no. There is noth- out health insurance consume only ing that can be achieved with a mandate about half as much health care as that can’t be better achieved by a care- everyone else. Of the amount of fully designed system of tax breaks. care they consume, they pay for The most common case for an about half. Thus the “free ride” for individual mandate is the free-rider the average uninsured person is argument. Imagine a community about one-fourth of what everyone in which everyone dutifully pays else spends on health care. monthly health-insurance premi- Forcing Joe to buy insurance that ums, except Joe. Then one day Joe pays for the same amount of care every- gets sick and finds he cannot pay the one else gets would be neither fair nor full costs of his medical care. So the rest of us chip equitable. To get Joe to pay his own way, we need to in and pay for the remainder of Joe’s care. The take from him an amount of money equal to about upshot: When he was healthy, Joe got to consume one-fourth of the average health-care spending of all his income instead of paying premiums, and insured people and either distribute it to everyone after he got sick he managed to “free ride” on else or put it in a fund to pay for the care eventually everyone else’s generosity. required by Joe and others like him. Ethically, Joe is getting an undeserved benefit How could that work? Let’s say that $X is the average health-care spending by insured people. John C. Goodman is a Research Fellow at the One solution would be to make Joe pay a fourth of Independent Institute and President and Kellye that in extra taxes each year. Or, we could achieve Wright Fellow in Health Care at the National an equivalent outcome by giving everyone who Center for Policy Analysis. has insurance a tax break equal to that amount, but deny the break to Joe and everyone else who IN THIS ISSUE is uninsured. This system is not all that different, at least Curing the Healthcare Crisis .....................................1 in principle, from our current tax system. For President’s Letter ...................................................... 2 people who get insurance at work, the employer’s The Independent Review ........................................... 3 premium payments escape individual income Independent Institute in the News ..........................4 and payroll taxes. By contrast, families who are New Book: Living Economics .................................... 5 uninsured (and therefore receive taxable wages Policy Forum: John Stossel ......................................6 rather than nontaxed health insurance) face a Conversation with Alex Tabarrok .............................6 higher tax bill. Thank You to Our Supporters ................................... 7 So far, so good. But if we want to build on this Student Interns at the Institute ................................ 8 (continued on page 7) 2 The INDEPENDENT EXECUTIVE STAFF DAVID J. THEROUX, Founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer MARY L. G. THEROUX, Senior Vice President MARTIN BUERGER, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer President’s Letter ALEXANDER TABARROK, Ph.D., Research Director BRUCE L. BENSON, Ph.D., Senior Fellow IVAN ELAND, Ph.D., Senior Fellow ROBERT HIGGS, Ph.D., Senior Fellow ROBERT H. NELSON, Ph.D., Senior Fellow A Health Care Contract CHARLES V. PEÑA, Senior Fellow BENJAMIN POWELL, Ph.D, Senior Fellow WILLIAM F. SHUGHART II, Ph.D. Senior Fellow Randy T. Simmons, Ph.D. Senior Fellow with America ALVARO VARGAS LLOSA, Senior Fellow RICHARD K. VEDDER, Ph.D., Senior Fellow LINDSAY BOYD, Marketing and Communications Director ith the Supreme Court de- ROY M. CARLISLE, Acquisitions Editor CARL P. CLOSE, Research Fellow, Academic Affairs Director cision upholding the Pa- GAIL SAARI, Publications Director W SARAH TARVIN, Associate Director of Development tient Protection and Affordable BOARD OF DIRECTORS gilbert I. collins, Private Equity Manager John Hagel iii, Co-Chairman, Center for the Edge, Deloitte & Touche USA LLC Care Act (i.e., “ObamaCare”), the sally S. harris, Vice Chairman of the Board, Albert Schweitzer Fellowship PETER A. HOWLEY, Chairman, Howley Management Group upcoming 2012 elections will be PHILIP HUDNER, ESQ., Of Counsel, Botto Law Group, LLC GARY G. SCHLARBAUM, Ph.D., CFA, Managing Director, crucially important in repealing Palliser Bay Investment Management Isabella P. Speakman, President, The Curran Foundation W. Dieter Tede, President, Hopper Creek Winery this measure and replacing it DAVID J. TEECE, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, Berkeley Research Group, LLC David J. Theroux, Founder and President, The Independent Institute with a truly affordable healthcare system. As a Mary L. G. Theroux, Former Chairman, Garvey International SALLY von behren, Businesswoman result, we have an enormous but time-sensitive BOARD OF ADVISORS LesZak balcerowicZ Professor of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics window of opportunity to redefine and redirect jonathan bean Professor of History, Southern Illinois University debate toward market-based healthcare. herman belZ Professor of History, University of Maryland thomas bethell Led by our Research Fellow John C. Goodman Author, The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages Thomas Borcherding and based on his new, acclaimed, Independent In- Professor of Economics, Claremont Graduate School Boudewijn Bouckaert Professor of Law, University of Ghent, Belgium stitute book, Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, James M. Buchanan Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, George Mason University A Health Care Contract with America aims to do ALLAN C. CARLSON President, Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society ROBERT D. COOTER this. It comprises five critical principles: Herman F. Selvin Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley Robert W. Crandall Fairness: All families should receive the same Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution RICHARD A. EPSTEIN James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago tax relief when they obtain private health insur- George Gilder Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute ance, regardless of where they obtain it. Nathan GlaZer Professor of Education and Sociology, Harvard University Ronald Hamowy Universality: Unclaimed tax relief funds Emeritus Professor of History, University of Alberta, Canada STEVE H. HANKE should be made available to local safety-net insti- Professor of Applied Economics, Johns Hopkins University JAMES J. HECKMAN Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, University of Chicago tutions to be used in case the uninsured cannot wendy kaminer Contributing Editor, The Atlantic Monthly pay their own medical bills. LAWRENCE A. KUDLOW Chief Executive Officer, Kudlow & Company JOHN R. MacARTHUR Portability: Employers should be free to pur- Publisher, Harper’s Magazine DEIRdre N. McCloskey chase portable insurance for their employees. Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago J. Huston McCulloch Professor of Economics, Ohio State University Patient Control: Patients should be free to man- Thomas Gale Moore Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution age more of their own healthcare dollars. Charles Murray Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute Michael Novak Real Insurance: Insurance should not just pay Jewett Chair in Religion and Public Policy, American Enterprise Institute JUNE E. O’NEILL for the cost of becoming ill, it should also cover Director, Center for the Study of Business and Government, Baruch College P. J. O’rourke Author, Peace Kills: Americas Run New Imperianlism and Pariliament of Whores the future costs associated with incurring a pre- Tom Peters Co-Author, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies existing condition. Charles E. Phelps Provost and Professor of Political Science and Economics, University of Rochester Paul Craig Roberts Already, coverage for Priceless has included Fox Chairman, Institute of Political Economy Nathan Rosenberg Business, Fox News, CBN News, and The Wall Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr. Professor of Economics, Stanford University PAUL H. RUBIN Professor of Economics and Law, Emory University Street Journal’s Opinion Journal TV, plus articles BRUCE M. RUSSETT Dean Acheson Professor of International Relations, Yale University in Barron’s, Politico, American Spectator, Forbes, Pascal Salin Professor of Economics, University of Paris, France VERNON L. SMITH Roll Call, Health Affairs, Boston Globe, Daily Caller, Nobel Laureate in Economic Science, George Mason University Joel H. Spring Newsmax, Washington Examiner, and Austin States- Professor of Education, State University of New York, Old Westbury Richard L. Stroup Professor of Economics, Montana State University man Journal, among many more. Thomas S. SZasZ Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, State University of New York, Syracuse To help boldly advance this campaign, please Robert D. Tollison
Recommended publications
  • Scott A. Beaulier, Ph.D
    Last Updated: 12.2017 Scott A. Beaulier, Ph.D. North Dakota State www.scottbeaulier.com [email protected] University Dean of the College of Business (701) 231-8978 Fargo, ND 5810 Positions North Dakota State University Dean of the College of Business Present Arizona State University Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Economic Liberty 2015-2016 Troy University Executive Director of Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy 2010 -2014 Adams-Bibby Chair of Free Enterprise 2010-2014 Division of Economics and Finance Chair 2012-2014 Discipline Coordinating Committee (DCC) Chair of Economics 2010-2014 Associate Professor of Economics 2010-2014 Mercer University BB&T Distinguished Professor of Capitalism 2009- 2010 Director of Center for Undergraduate Research in Public Policy & Capitalism 2009-2010 Economics Department Chair 2008-2010 Associate Professor of Economics 2010-2010 Assistant Professor of Economics 2004-2010 Beloit College Assistant Professor of Economics 2007-2008 Other Affiliations Dakota Medical Foundation 2017-Present ● Member Fargo Public Library 2017-Present ● Board Member Plains Art Museum Finance Committee 2017-Present ● Chair Institute for Humane Studies 2012-Present ● Board of Directors Member Foundation for Economic Education 2012-Present ● Board of Scholars Member Mont Pelerin Society 2011-Present ● Member Journal of Entrepreneurship & Public Policy 2011-Present ● Editorial Board Member American Energy Alliance 2009-2017 ● Board Member RealClearMarkets 2014-2016 ● Contributor Al.com/Birmingham News 2013-2014 ● Contributor The Laffer Center for Global Economic Growth, 2009-2010 ● Faculty Director and Distinguished Fellow Center for the Teaching of America’s Western Foundations 2009-2010 ● Faculty Affiliate Education George Mason University Ph.D.
    [Show full text]
  • Markets Not Capitalism Explores the Gap Between Radically Freed Markets and the Capitalist-Controlled Markets That Prevail Today
    individualist anarchism against bosses, inequality, corporate power, and structural poverty Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson Individualist anarchists believe in mutual exchange, not economic privilege. They believe in freed markets, not capitalism. They defend a distinctive response to the challenges of ending global capitalism and achieving social justice: eliminate the political privileges that prop up capitalists. Massive concentrations of wealth, rigid economic hierarchies, and unsustainable modes of production are not the results of the market form, but of markets deformed and rigged by a network of state-secured controls and privileges to the business class. Markets Not Capitalism explores the gap between radically freed markets and the capitalist-controlled markets that prevail today. It explains how liberating market exchange from state capitalist privilege can abolish structural poverty, help working people take control over the conditions of their labor, and redistribute wealth and social power. Featuring discussions of socialism, capitalism, markets, ownership, labor struggle, grassroots privatization, intellectual property, health care, racism, sexism, and environmental issues, this unique collection brings together classic essays by Cleyre, and such contemporary innovators as Kevin Carson and Roderick Long. It introduces an eye-opening approach to radical social thought, rooted equally in libertarian socialism and market anarchism. “We on the left need a good shake to get us thinking, and these arguments for market anarchism do the job in lively and thoughtful fashion.” – Alexander Cockburn, editor and publisher, Counterpunch “Anarchy is not chaos; nor is it violence. This rich and provocative gathering of essays by anarchists past and present imagines society unburdened by state, markets un-warped by capitalism.
    [Show full text]
  • Download PDF]
    Heterodox Economics Newsletter, Issue 120 | September 26, 2011 | 1 Issue 120 | September 26, 2011 [Read HTML] [Download PDF] Editors' Note The season of job searching and job opening has returned. H.E.N is the must-see source for new heterodox jobs. If you have a job for heterodox economists, send us an advert. There is no cost for including a job advert in the Newsletter (we often get a query about the cost of job announcement). As for the upcoming ASSA annual meetings, we have a couple of things to remind you. Firstly, if you have not registered, you'd better do it as soon as possible (go to: http://www.aeaweb.org/ Annual_Meeting/index.php). Also note that there may be a picket line at the Hyatt Regency, the headquarter of the ASSA. You can avoid crossing the picket line by requesting the ASSA administration that you will be picking up your registration packet at Swissotel or Palmer House. The request form is found here. Secondly, there will be a pedagogy and course design workshop for young heterodox economists (graduate students and untenured faculty) organized by Geoffrey Schneider (Bucknell University) on January 5, 2012 at Roosevelt University, Chicago. Check this out here and contact your own heterodox association (for example, URPE, AFEE, AFIT, ASE, and AJES) for funding your trip to Chicago in January. In spirit of solidarity, we will not repost Huffington Post's links in the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. This is because of the boycott of the Huffington Post by AFL-CIO affiliates unions, such as the National Writers' Union, UAW 1981.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter J. Boettke
    PETER J. BOETTKE BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, & University Professor of Economics and Philosophy Department of Economics, MSN 3G4 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 Tel: 703-993-1149 Fax: 703-993-1133 Web: http://www.peter-boettke.com http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=182652 http://www.coordinationproblem.org PERSONAL Date of birth: January 3, 1960 Nationality: United States EDUCATION Ph.D. in Economics, George Mason University, January, 1989 M.A. in Economics, George Mason University, January, 1987 B.A. in Economics, Grove City College, May, 1983 TITLE OF DOCTORAL THESIS: The Political Economy of Soviet Socialism, 1918-1928 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Academic Positions 1987 –88 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University 1988 –90 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, School of Business Administration, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309 1990 –97 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, New York University, New York, NY 10003 1997 –98 Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business, Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY 10471 1998 – 2003 Associate Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 (tenured Fall 2000) 2003 –07 Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 2007 – University Professor, George Mason University 2011 – Affiliate Faculty, Department of Philosophy, George Mason University FIELDS OF INTEREST
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    Curriculum Vitae: DAVID P. ELLERMAN Mailing Address: David Ellerman 4044 Mount Vernon Ave. Riverside, CA 92507 Email: david(at)ellerman.org URL: www.ellerman.org DoB: March 14, 1943 EDUCATION Ph.D. in Mathematics Boston University, 1971 (Dissertation: Sheaves of Relational Structures and Generalized Ultraproducts) M.A. in Economics Boston University, 1968. M.A. in Philosophy of Science Boston University, 1967. B.S. in Philosophy of Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1965. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY PUBLICATIONS BOOKS: Helping People Help Themselves: From the World Bank to an Alternative Philosophy of Development Assistance. University of Michigan Press, 2005. Foreword by Albert O. Hirschman. Paperback edition 2006. South Asia edition published by Tulika Press, New Dehli, India, 2006. Intellectual Trespassing as a Way of Life: Essays in Philosophy, Economics, and Mathematics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Inc. 1995. Property and Contract in Economics. Cambridge MA: Basil Blackwell Inc. 1992. The Democratic Worker-Owned Firm. 1990, London: Unwin Hyman Limited (HarperCollins Academic). Revised and published in Chinese as The Democratic Corporation 1997, Xinhua Publishing House, Beijing. Economics, Accounting, and Property Theory. Lexington MA: Lexington Books, 1982. 2 SELECTED ARTICLES AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS 2010 The Logic of Partitions; Introduction to the Dual of the Logic of Subsets. Review of Symbolic Logic (forthcoming). 2009 The Workplace: A Forgotten Topic in Democratic Theory? Kettering Review (Summer 2009): 51-57. Investment Climate and Globalization: What's Wrong with the Western Advice? In Globalization and Transnational Capitalism: Crises, Opportunities and Alternatives. Li Xing, Li Jizhen and Gorm Winther ed., Aalborg: Aalborg University Press: pp. 109-130.
    [Show full text]
  • Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 16, No
    The VOL. 16 | NO. 4 | 421–458 QUARTERLY WINTER 2013 JOURNAL of AU S TRIAN ECONOMIC S DRIVING THE MARKET PROCESS : “ALERTNESS ” VERSUS INNOVATION AN D “CREATIVE DESTRUCTION ” SAMUEL BO S TAPH ABSTRACT: This paper summarizes and compares the theories of entre- preneurship of Joseph A. Schumpeter and Israel M. Kirzner as presented in their major scholarly contributions to economic analysis. It is argued that Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurial action as “the driving force of the market” contributes greatly to a fundamental understanding of the market process. In contrast, it is argued that Schumpeter’s theory that entrepreneurship is the agent of “creative destruction” of an ongoing state of general equilibrium is spurious. It is also argued that his view that entrepreneurship is the internal force for the economic development of any economy, market or non-market, reveals a seriously inadequate understanding of both the market process and the economics of non- market economies. KEYWORDS: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, market process, Austrian School JEL CLASSIFICATION: B31, B53, E32, L26, O12, O31 Sam Bostaph ([email protected]) is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Dallas. My thanks to Randall G. Holcombe and an anonymous referee for helpful comments and suggestions. Remaining errors are completely my own. 421 422 The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 16, No. 4 (2013) INTRODUCTION his paper argues that Israel Kirzner’s theory of entrepreneurial action as “the driving force of the market”—an extension and Tfurther development of Ludwig von Mises’s concept of functional entrepreneurship—contributes to a fundamental understanding of the market process.
    [Show full text]
  • Hayek's Transformation
    History of Political Economy 20:4 0 1988 by Duke University Press CCC 00 18-2702/88/$1.50 Hayek’s transformation Bruce 1. Catdwell Though at one time a very pure and narrow economic theorist, I was led from technical economics into all kinds of questions usually regarded as philosophical. When I look back, it seems to have all begun, nearly thirty years ago, with an essay on “Economics and Knowledge” in which I examined what seemed to me some of the central difficulties of pure economic theory. Its main conclusion was that the task of economic theory was to explain how an overall order of economic activity was achieved which utilized a large amount of knowl- edge which was not concentrated in any one mind but existed only as the separate knowledge of thousands or millions of different individuals. But it was still a long way from this to an adequate insight into the relations between the abstract overall order which is formed as a result of his responding, within the limits imposed upon him by those abstract rules, to the concrete particular circumstances which he encounters. It was only through a re-examination of the age-old concept of freedom under the law, the basic conception of traditional liber- alism, and of the problems of the philosophy of the law which this raises, that I have reached what now seems to be a tolerably clear picture of the nature of the sponta- neous order of which liberal economists have so long been talking. -FRIEDRICHA. HAYEK(1967,91-92) I.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter J. Boettke
    PETER J. BOETTKE BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, & University Professor of Economics and Philosophy Department of Economics, MSN 3G4 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 Tel: 703‐993‐1149 Fax: 703‐993‐1133 Web: http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/pboettke/ http://www.coordinationproblem.org PERSONAL Date of birth: January 3, 1960 Nationality: United States EDUCATION Ph.D. in Economics, George Mason University, January, 1989 M.A. in Economics, George Mason University, January, 1987 B.A. in Economics, Grove City College, May, 1983 TITLE OF DOCTORAL THESIS: The Political Economy of Soviet Socialism, 1918‐1928 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Academic Positions 1987 –88 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University 1988 –90 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, School of Business Administration, Oakland University, Rochester, MI 48309 1990 –97 Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, New York University, New York, NY 10003 1997 –98 Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business, Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY 10471 1998 – 2003 Associate Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 (tenured Fall 2000) 2003 –07 Professor, Department of Economics, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030 2007 – University Professor, George Mason University 2011 – Affiliate Faculty, Department of Philosophy, George Mason University FIELDS OF INTEREST Market Process Theory, Comparative Political Economy, History
    [Show full text]
  • Avner Ben-Ner 1/2019
    Avner Ben-Ner 1/2019 Professor, Carlson School of Management Affiliated Professor, Law School; Affiliated Professor, Center for the Study of Political Psychology; Member, Graduate Faculty in Applied Economics - University of Minnesota Center for Human Resources and Labor Studies (612) 624-0867 (o) (Formerly Industrial Relations Center) (612) 624-8360 (fax) Carlson School of Management [email protected] University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Website Minneapolis, MN 55455 Google Scholar Page Education 1981 Ph.D., Economics, State University of New York at Stony Brook (M.A. 1978) 1977 Fulfilled all requirements for M.A. in Economics except for thesis, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 1975 B.A., Economics and Philosophy, Ben-Gurion/Hebrew University, Beer-Sheba Research Interests Technology effects on organizational structure, behavior and performance; comparative study of organizations; nonprofit organizations; employee ownership and cooperatives; behavioral and experimental economics; preferences and individual behavior; diversity; teams; physical activity and performance Academic Positions 2013-18 Academic Director, MA Program in Human Resources and Industrial Relations, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota 1988- Professor (Associate Professor 1988-1993), Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota 2007-9 Visiting Professor (short term), Economics Department, Central European University (Budapest) 2006-10 Director of Graduate Studies (Ph.D.), Department of Human Resources and Industrial Relations 1997-06 Director, Industrial Relations Center, and Chair, Department of Human Resources and Industrial Relations, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 1994 Visiting Professor, Departments of Economics and of Labor Studies, Tel-Aviv University 1993-4 Visiting Professor, Economics Department and Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University 1991 Visiting Scholar (Fall semester) Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern U.
    [Show full text]
  • Accepting the Invisible Hand: Market-Based Approaches to Social-Economic Problems Edited by Mark D
    ACCEPTING THE INVISIBLE HAND Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to ETH Zuerich - PalgraveConnect - 2011-04-15 - PalgraveConnect - licensed to ETH Zuerich www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230114319 - Accepting the Invisible Hand, Edited by Mark D. White 9780230102491_01_prexvi.indd i 9/6/2010 1:17:11 PM PERSPECTIVES FROM SOCIAL ECONOMICS Series Editor: Mark D. White, Professor in the Department of Political Science, Econom- ics, and Philosophy at the College of Staten Island/CUNY. The Perspectives from Social Economics series incorporates an explicit ethical component into contemporary economic discussion of important policy and social issues, drawing on the approaches used by social economists around the world. It also allows social economists to develop their own frameworks and paradigms by exploring the philosophy and methodology of social eco- nomics in relation to orthodox and other heterodox approaches to econom- ics. By furthering these goals, this series will expose a wider readership to the scholarship produced by social economists, and thereby promote the more inclusive viewpoints, especially as they concern ethical analyses of economic issues and methods. Accepting the Invisible Hand: Market-Based Approaches to Social-Economic Problems Edited by Mark D. White Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to ETH Zuerich - PalgraveConnect - 2011-04-15 - PalgraveConnect - licensed to ETH Zuerich www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230114319 - Accepting the Invisible Hand, Edited by Mark D. White 9780230102491_01_prexvi.indd ii 9/6/2010 1:17:11 PM Accepting the Invisible Hand Market-Based Approaches to Social-Economic Problems Edited by Mark D. White Copyright material from www.palgraveconnect.com - licensed to ETH Zuerich - PalgraveConnect - 2011-04-15 - PalgraveConnect - licensed to ETH Zuerich www.palgraveconnect.com material from Copyright 10.1057/9780230114319 - Accepting the Invisible Hand, Edited by Mark D.
    [Show full text]
  • Economics and Happiness Research: Insights from Austrian and Public Choice Economics*
    Economics and Happiness Research: Insights from Austrian and Public Choice Economics* Christopher J. Coyne Department of Economics Box 863 Hampden-Sydney College Hampden-Sydney, VA 23943-0665 [email protected] Peter J. Boettke Department of Economics MSN 3G4 George Mason University Fairfax, VA 22030 [email protected] Abstract Over the past decade, economists have increasingly focused on happiness research. The main focus has been on understanding the interconnection between economic outcomes and the resulting happiness of economic actors. The work in this area has yielded many implications for policy in a number of areas, including public finance (government expenditure and taxation), welfare policy and labor law. This chapter will critically reexamine the happiness and economics research program and the resulting policy implications through an Austrian/Public Choice lens. It is our contention that the main insights of these schools of thought have been neglected in this area of research. * We would like to thank the editors, David Prychitko, Arnold Kling and readers of The Austrian Economists blog for useful comments and suggestions. The financial support of the Mercatus Center is acknowledged. 1. Introduction Over the past decade economists have increasingly focused on the implications of happiness, also known as subjective well-being, for economic theory and policy.1 The focus on happiness can be seen as part of the larger behavioral movement in economics. To understand the growth and impact of this area of research, consider that the 2002 Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to a psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, "for having integrated insights from psychological research into economic science, especially concerning human judgment and decision-making under uncertainty."2 The main focus of the happiness and economics research has been on understanding the interconnection between economic outcomes and the resulting happiness of economic actors.
    [Show full text]
  • Acknowledgments
    Acknowledgments Over the years, I have incurred substantial intellectual debts that have com- pounded into this book. Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff introduced me to the notion of postmodern Marxism. James Crotty and Douglas Vickers opened the door to the idea of radical subjectivism, via Keynes. Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis showed how to transform traditional economics into political economy. All were my teachers in the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts—Amherst. The model of socialism in this book is partly ani- mated by an imaginary conversation among Resnick and Wolff, and Bowles and Gintis. Peter d’Errico in the Legal Studies Department at the University of Massachusetts taught me much about legal realism. Resnick, Wolff, Vickers, and d’Errico served on the committee for my 1994 PhD dissertation, “Subjec- tivism and the Limits of F. A. Hayek’s Political Economy,” which raised the question about how a left-wing Hayekian economics would look. That ques- tion is ‹nally answered, in a preliminary way, by this book. Jack Amariglio, David Ruccio, Stephen Cullenberg, and George DeMartino have also been important in›uences on my thinking, through their contributions to economics and postmodernism (especially Amariglio 1990 and Ruccio 1991), a thin theory of socialism (especially Cullenberg 1992), and class justice and Nussbaum and Sen’s capability theory (especially DeMartino 2003). Over the past decade, I have enjoyed and pro‹ted from many conversa- tions, e-mail exchanges, and published debates with the Austrian econo- mists Peter Boettke, William Butos, Bruce Caldwell, Steven Horwitz, Israel Kirzner, Roger Koppl, Don Lavoie, David Prychitko, and Mario Rizzo.
    [Show full text]