REJOINDER TO BOETTKE ON COASEAN ECONOMICS AND COMMUNISM

In the view of Boettke (1998), Coase (1960) casts lights of understanding in a myriad of fields, including, preeminently, property rights theory and the Soviet system of economics. The claim of the present author, in sharp contrast, is that this seminal article of Coase’s is a snare and a delusion. It has led economists down a mistaken path for lo this past half century, and Boettke (1998) is but one more unfortunate example of this.Ronald Coase; Communism; Central Planning; Property Rights

IS THERE A PH.D. GLUT IN ECONOMICS IN ACADEMIA?

The academic market for Ph.D. economists in academia works like any other semi heavily regulated market with a large element of government ownership and with large time lags in supply: there are shortages and surpluses, but these tend to be self correcting, with enough time allowed for adjustments. Contrary to the claims of some, there is no such thing as a chronic glut.oversupply; academic market; market process; glut; Austrian economics

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: CENTRALIZING CLASS WARRIOR

Abraham Lincoln was the great centralizer. His War of 1861 was only the tip of the iceberg in this regard. This core of his philosophy can also be seen in his “contributions” to class warfare, the American “system” of public works, strong tariff protection, public lands policy, welfare payments to large corporate interests, and in the contrasts between the Confederate and the U.S. Constitutions.Class warfare, Lincoln, tariffs, public lands, Confederate Constitution, centralization

Overcoming difficulties in privatizing roads

The present article considers, and rejects, four arguments against the privatization of roads, and in favor of our present system of road socialism. They are 1. Eminent domain is cheap, efficient, and necessary, but only government can avail itself of their “benefits.” 2. Roads are not perfectly competitive, but rather, necessarily, are characterized by monopolistic elements, which only the state can address. 3. Roads are different then everything else; people impose waiting costs on others without taking them into account; this externalities problem is a market failure that, again, only government can solve. 4. Road privatization is unfair to abutting property owners. In section 3, the paper deals with five objections to, or difficulties with, street and highway privatization: 1. The government has violated “Non-Compete” clauses to protect private investors in roadways. 2. Private industry would find it impossible to discern rational prices for its services. 3. Should public roads be commercialized before being privatized? That is, should the state first charge a price for these services and then privatize, or do the opposite? 4. Road privatization would be a public relations nightmare. How should this be dealt with

REJOINDER TO WYSOCKI ON INDIFFERENCE AND THE BLOCK-HOPPE DEBATE

There has been an ongoing debate in Austrian economic circles on indifference and methodology. It started with Nozick (1977) who criticized this school of thought on that issue. Block (1980) responded to that essay. The main debaters within Austrian circles have been Block (2009A), Block and Barnett (2010), and Hoppe (2005, 2009). Wysocki (2017) is a recent entry into this discussion. The present paper is a response to this latter contribution

Abortion Once Again: a response to Feser, Goodwin, Mosquito, Sadowsky, Vance and Watkins

Only a libertarian would think to base an analysis of the abortion controversy on private property rights. The present paper does just that.  On that basis, it concludes that evictionism is the only policy compatible with libertarianism. This essay then uses this analysis to criticize the views on this subject of five scholars associated with this political philosophy: Feser, Goodwin, Mosquito, Sadowsky, Vance and Watkins

Teeth Whitening and Occupational Licensing

Abstract. The case for occupational licensing, whether for physicians or teeth whiteners, is highly problematic. This paper makes the case for a free market system in certification of quality in medical and dental care, and much else. Purpose: To explore occupational licensure as an infringement of liberty. Design/methodology/approach: a logical and empirical analysis. Findings: teeth whitening regulations serve as an anti-competitive barrier to entry. Originality/value: applying the concept of entry restrictions is not original; applying them to teeth whitening, is. This is of value in that for economic liberty to be promoted, schemes against it such as this one must be analyzed and exposed.Keywords. Restricted entry, Modern guilds, Free enterprise.JEL. I11