Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Chapter Summary There has been little economic analysis of government expenditure. Although in the real world the two are always mixed, we may conceptually distinguish between pure transfers and resource-using expenditures. All subsidies transfer income from the efficient to the inefficient and distort resource allocation. They lower overall production by (1) diverting energies into “rent seeking” and (2) lowering the incentives to produce. Government agents spend funds in order to achieve their ends, and hence all government spending is consumption, not investment. No government service can be “free” because of the scarce resources involved, but by charging low (or zero) prices, the government causes shortages and conflict. It is vain for the government to run an enterprise “on a business basis,” for the government enterprise raises its funds through coercion. Socialism refers to government ownership of the “means of production.” The U.S. is more socialistic than generally believed, because of government loans (or guarantees) to business. The U.S.S.R. was less socialistic than generally believed because it relied on market prices from abroad and black markets internally. Ownership is the ultimate control and direction of a resource. The public cannot “own” a park or a school building. 219 CHAPTER 5 BINARY INTERVENTION: GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES
220 Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market Even government officials do not truly own resources at State disposal, because they enjoy only temporary control. In contrast to popular belief, politicians are inherently shortsighted and tend to use resources too quickly. Private owners, on the other hand, can always sell their property for its capitalized value, and thus will exploit it at the optimal rate. Democracy refers to majority rule, but in the “classical” sense it means majority decision on policies, whereas in the “modern” sense it usually means majority decision on rulers (“representatives”) who then decide on actual policies. The principle of democracy is riddled with contradictions. Can the people vote to end a democracy (either by moving to dictatorship or ushering in a totally free market)? “Democratic socialism” is infeasible, because the government ultimately decides on how many resources go to various propaganda efforts, and can determine the occupations of the opposition leaders. There is also the more fundamental question: Why is democracy supposed to be so good? There are countless historical examples of the public making ignorant and evil decisions. It is also far from obvious that democracy is an effective means to check the growth of State power. Simon Kuznets originally measured the size of government production by taxes paid, operating on the analogy with consumer expenditures for a private good or service. The problem is that taxpayers do not voluntarily give their funds for such “services.” The Department of Commerce instead calculates on the basis of the total “cost” of a given program, and hence the bigger the government deficit, the more it is “serving” the community.
Page 2 and 3:
STUDY GUIDE TO MAN, ECONOMY, AND ST
Page 4 and 5:
STUDY GUIDE TO MAN, ECONOMY, AND ST
Page 6 and 7:
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . .
Page 8 and 9:
In June of 2004, I became convinced
Page 10:
Introduction ix appropriate, I have
Page 13 and 14:
2 Study Guide to Man, Economy, and
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 50 and 51:
Chapter Summary In a money economy,
Page 52 and 53:
Chapter 4: Prices and Consumption 4
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 80 and 81:
Chapter Summary In the evenly rotat
Page 82 and 83:
Chapter 6: Production: The Rate of
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
Chapter Summary This chapter explai
Page 94 and 95:
Chapter 7: Production: General Pric
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Chapter Summary Entrepreneurial pro
Page 106 and 107:
Chapter 8: Production: Entrepreneur
Page 108 and 109:
Page 110 and 111:
Page 112 and 113:
Page 114 and 115:
Page 116:
Page 119 and 120:
108 Study Guide to Man, Economy, an
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 132 and 133:
Chapter Summary Consumer preference
Page 134 and 135:
Chapter 10: Monopoly and Competitio
Page 136 and 137:
Page 138 and 139:
Page 140 and 141:
Page 142 and 143:
Page 144 and 145:
Page 146 and 147:
Chapter Summary Like all goods, the
Page 148 and 149:
Chapter 11: Money and Its Purchasin
Page 150 and 151:
Page 152 and 153:
Page 154 and 155:
Page 156 and 157:
Page 158 and 159:
Page 160 and 161:
Page 162 and 163:
Page 164:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173 and 174:
Page 175 and 176:
Page 177 and 178:
Page 179 and 180: 168 Study Guide to Man, Economy, an
Page 186 and 187: Chapter Summary Economists often ta
Page 188 and 189: Chapter 1: Defense Services on the
Page 190 and 191: Chapter 1: Defense Services on the
Page 192 and 193: Chapter Outline 1. Types of Interve
Page 194 and 195: Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Interven
Page 196 and 197: Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Interven
Page 198: Chapter 2: Fundamentals of Interven
Page 214 and 215: Chapter Summary Society is composed
Page 216 and 217: Chapter 4: Binary Intervention: Tax
Page 232 and 233: Chapter 5: Binary Intervention: Gov
Page 238: Chapter 5: Binary Intervention: Gov
Page 260 and 261: Apriorism, 1, 9 Ability-to-pay prin
Page 262 and 263: Index 251 Equilibrium, 47, 104 macr
Page 264 and 265: Index 253 Medium of exchange, 27, 3
Page 266 and 267: Index 255 See also Economy, Evenly
show all

Study Guide to Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?