This is something I see in mothering. I can delight in observing children making their own choices, try to support good decision making, ensure that the incentives I have in place are not counterproductive (extremely difficult, but a good goal) or I can try to control children’s behavior. There’s a beauty and an efficiency in people making their own choices. It’s a better world.
My favorite example of why markets work and central planning doesn't is this one.
In the middle of January, in a smallish town in northern Minnesota it is 10 degrees F and there is 2 feet of snow on the ground. Temps haven't been above freezing for 45 days. And yet, And YET!!!
Go into the grocery store to the fruit section and you will have at least 5 and probably closer to 10 varieties of apples to choose from. All priced quite reasonably (at least until Bidenomics kicked in our teeth).
And the government didn't have a damn thing to do with those apples getting into that store, FRESH BTW. Nope prices, markets and self-interest on the part of the Chilean orchard owner and his workers, the freight airline and employees that brought it to Minneapolis the night before, the owner of the wholesales distribution company and her employees, etc. etc.
But government should run our healthcare and educational systems. Idiots!
Thank you, Mr. Browstein for publishing my glamourless testimony.
I would like to add a new testimony published today on “Old Dilemma” (“Dilema Veche”) magazine by prominent Romanian intellectual Andrei Plesu, philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic (also founder of "New Europe College", an institute for advanced studies, and former Romanian Minister of Culture).
In the article “To live with impossible” (that is, with communism), Andrei Plesu states: “To younger people I try to tell them how things that seem to them, today, to be inconceivable were miraculous in communist regime. You couldn't find cotton wool, matches, toilet paper and all sorts of other 'everyday' goods, not to mention 'precious' items: bananas, tangerines, etc. I also tell them that the lights went out and the heat stopped, that television programs were no longer more than two hours a night and were dominated by propaganda, that you could hardly dream of leaving the country (even on holiday), etc.”
As you know, "political capitalism" is a recent political economy theory brought forth by Randall G. Holcombe in his book Political Capitalism (2018). Holcombe posits that “political capitalism” explains that what people often view as the results of political corruption and unethical/illegal governmental behavior, are in fact symptoms of a distinct system of a "new political economy". The symptoms of "political capitalism" are often mistakenly viewed as the result of government intervention in a market economy, or as normal attributes of a capitalist economy itself. Holcombe combines well-established theories in economics and the social sciences to show that "political capitalism" is not a mixed economy, or government intervention in a market economy, or some intermediate step between capitalism and socialism. Holcombe uncovers a "new political economy".
The 'mixed economic systems' of the United States and Western Europe once combined market-based institutions operating, to greater or lesser extents, under public-sector control. Randall G. Holcombe's Political Capitalism documents the morphing of 'mixed' into 'crony'. Like Joseph Schumpeter before him, he warns that capitalism may not survive in a democracy after private business owners realize they can buy protection from pitiless competitive market forces, from unethical public officials; who, to advance their own political careers, are only too happy to exercise the state's coercive powers on behalf of the capitalists' interests.
Adam Smith gave the same warning: A theme of The Wealth Of Nations is that competition and free exchange are under threat from the monopolies, tax preferences, controls, and other privileges that producers extract from the government authorities. For all these reasons, Adam Smith believed that government itself must be limited. Its core functions are maintaining defense, keeping order, building infrastructure and promoting education. It should keep the market economy open and free, and not act in ways that distort it.
Similarly, Holcombe presents political capitalism as the cause for the cronyism and corporatism since TARP in 2009. Holcombe illuminates the fact that robust free and open markets, (the engines of prosperity), are transformed by “political capitalism” into a stagnant and politically corrupt national socialism. Holcombe uses the theories of rent-seeking, regulatory capture, interest group politics, and elite theory and shows how they explain “political capitalism”.
This is something I see in mothering. I can delight in observing children making their own choices, try to support good decision making, ensure that the incentives I have in place are not counterproductive (extremely difficult, but a good goal) or I can try to control children’s behavior. There’s a beauty and an efficiency in people making their own choices. It’s a better world.
Rivka, Very well expressed. Thank you.
I know from experience that parenting as you describe helps to raise children who are willing to take responsibility for their decisions.
My favorite example of why markets work and central planning doesn't is this one.
In the middle of January, in a smallish town in northern Minnesota it is 10 degrees F and there is 2 feet of snow on the ground. Temps haven't been above freezing for 45 days. And yet, And YET!!!
Go into the grocery store to the fruit section and you will have at least 5 and probably closer to 10 varieties of apples to choose from. All priced quite reasonably (at least until Bidenomics kicked in our teeth).
And the government didn't have a damn thing to do with those apples getting into that store, FRESH BTW. Nope prices, markets and self-interest on the part of the Chilean orchard owner and his workers, the freight airline and employees that brought it to Minneapolis the night before, the owner of the wholesales distribution company and her employees, etc. etc.
But government should run our healthcare and educational systems. Idiots!
Mark, Wonderful example. Thank you.
I'm well familiar with MN weather. Come on, 10 degrees in January in northern MN is a heat wave.
Thank you, Mr. Browstein for publishing my glamourless testimony.
I would like to add a new testimony published today on “Old Dilemma” (“Dilema Veche”) magazine by prominent Romanian intellectual Andrei Plesu, philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic (also founder of "New Europe College", an institute for advanced studies, and former Romanian Minister of Culture).
In the article “To live with impossible” (that is, with communism), Andrei Plesu states: “To younger people I try to tell them how things that seem to them, today, to be inconceivable were miraculous in communist regime. You couldn't find cotton wool, matches, toilet paper and all sorts of other 'everyday' goods, not to mention 'precious' items: bananas, tangerines, etc. I also tell them that the lights went out and the heat stopped, that television programs were no longer more than two hours a night and were dominated by propaganda, that you could hardly dream of leaving the country (even on holiday), etc.”
https://dilemaveche.ro/sectiune/editoriale-si-opinii/situatiunea/a-convietui-cu-imposibilul-2320518.html
Adriana, Thank you for additional important testimony.
Professor Barry Brownstein,
As you know, "political capitalism" is a recent political economy theory brought forth by Randall G. Holcombe in his book Political Capitalism (2018). Holcombe posits that “political capitalism” explains that what people often view as the results of political corruption and unethical/illegal governmental behavior, are in fact symptoms of a distinct system of a "new political economy". The symptoms of "political capitalism" are often mistakenly viewed as the result of government intervention in a market economy, or as normal attributes of a capitalist economy itself. Holcombe combines well-established theories in economics and the social sciences to show that "political capitalism" is not a mixed economy, or government intervention in a market economy, or some intermediate step between capitalism and socialism. Holcombe uncovers a "new political economy".
The 'mixed economic systems' of the United States and Western Europe once combined market-based institutions operating, to greater or lesser extents, under public-sector control. Randall G. Holcombe's Political Capitalism documents the morphing of 'mixed' into 'crony'. Like Joseph Schumpeter before him, he warns that capitalism may not survive in a democracy after private business owners realize they can buy protection from pitiless competitive market forces, from unethical public officials; who, to advance their own political careers, are only too happy to exercise the state's coercive powers on behalf of the capitalists' interests.
Adam Smith gave the same warning: A theme of The Wealth Of Nations is that competition and free exchange are under threat from the monopolies, tax preferences, controls, and other privileges that producers extract from the government authorities. For all these reasons, Adam Smith believed that government itself must be limited. Its core functions are maintaining defense, keeping order, building infrastructure and promoting education. It should keep the market economy open and free, and not act in ways that distort it.
Similarly, Holcombe presents political capitalism as the cause for the cronyism and corporatism since TARP in 2009. Holcombe illuminates the fact that robust free and open markets, (the engines of prosperity), are transformed by “political capitalism” into a stagnant and politically corrupt national socialism. Holcombe uses the theories of rent-seeking, regulatory capture, interest group politics, and elite theory and shows how they explain “political capitalism”.
Thank you Carl for taking the time to add your important insights.
Here is an essay I wrote on cronyism: https://www.aier.org/article/vaccine-passports-are-cronyism/
Dear Professor Barry Brownstein,
I perused your eloquent essay on cronyism and the final sentence caught my attention:
"The crony mindset rationalizes exploiting the power of the state to profit by coercion and is anything but lovely."
Is this "anything but lovely"?
https://www.activistpost.com/2023/11/rothschild-wants-merger-between-corporations-governments-and-ai-to-save-capitalism.html
Thanks for the link, Carl. It is impossible to keep up with all the madness in the world!