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Economics

 

Free-Market Entrepreneurship as Inherently Competitive:

G. Stolyarov II

August 11, 2007:

One of the principal arguments in Israel M. Kirzner’s Competition and Entrepreneurship asserts that entrepreneurship is essentially competitive and that competition is always an exercise of entrepreneurship. There is, according to Kirzner, no economic situation which can qualify for one of these designations without also qualifying for the other. Mr. Stolyarov explains this view and its implication that only government interference with the market and private aggression can limit competition or entrepreneurship.

 

A Review of Dr. Robert P. Murphy's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism:

G. Stolyarov II

August 12, 2007:

Mr. Stolyarov writes that Dr. Robert Murphy's The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism (Regnery Publishing, 2007) is not an academic treatise meant only for those who have already studied economics for years. Rather, it is intended for every kind of reader – from the layman who is just becoming introduced to sound economic principles to the long-practicing economics purveyor who will enjoy seeing repeatedly-validated truths presented in an original and creative manner. The easily accessible style of this book suits it for overcoming the general public’s ignorance of economics – and perhaps for directing the justified rage of readers toward the political and cultural elites who have long defied its principles to the peril of everybody else.  

 

Israel Kirzner's View of Monopoly and Its Real-World Implications:

G. Stolyarov II

August 14, 2007:

In Competition and Entrepreneurship, Israel M. Kirzner offers an innovative perspective on monopoly that challenges numerous mainstream economic assumptions. For Kirzner, monopoly is fundamentally a function of a producer’s exclusive control over certain resources – as opposed to the uniqueness of his product or the shape of the demand curve he faces. According to Mr. Stolyarov, Kirzner’s analysis implies that many of the firms conventionally deemed to be monopolies – such as John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil and Bill Gates’s Microsoft – do not, in fact, qualify for such a designation.

 

The Harms of Inflation versus the Benefits of Deflation:

G. Stolyarov II

August 14, 2007:

When it comes to monetary policy, politicians, economic planners at the Federal Reserve, and public opinion are afraid of entirely the wrong scenario. They pursue a deliberate gradual inflation of the money supply for fear that the opposite tendency – a great deflation might take hold. They allege that deflation is a great calamity, and that mild inflation is a lesser evil or even a preferable policy to follow. The Keynesians among them contend that inflation encourages investment in business enterprises and provides an economic stimulus. And yet, writes Mr. Stolyarov, the conventional wisdom has it all wrong. The politicians in fact favor the devil they know – inflation – over the angel they don’t know – deflation. Indeed, deflation has historically been an economic blessing, while inflation has wreaked nothing but havoc in individual finances and in entire societies.

 

The Inability of Economics to Distinguish Between Production Costs and Selling Costs:

G. Stolyarov II

August 16, 2007:

Israel Kirzner’s Competition and Entrepreneurship presents a new perspective on why economic science is unable to draw a clear distinction between production costs and selling costs. Kirzner examines the issue of costs from the standpoint of the entrepreneur and arrives at the conclusion that there is indeed no way to clearly separate costs of production from costs of selling. Mr. Stolyarov explains why any such distinction can only be made on a technical level (i.e., the physical actions required in the manufacturing process are different from those required in advertising) or from the standpoint of personal value judgments – but economics as such cannot separate the two.

 

A Falling Dollar, After All:

Dr. Robert P. Murphy

August 16, 2007:

For some time Dr. Robert Murphy has been trying to defuse the hysteria over the US current account deficit. Using economic arguments and funny analogies, he tried to show that there is nothing necessarily bad about foreigners selling us more final goods and services than we sell to them. But now Dr. Murphy has acquired "more information" and agrees with the alarmists this time around: he now believes that at present, the US current account deficit is indeed unsustainable, and he expects the dollar to fall (perhaps sharply) against other major currencies over the next few years.

 

Ethics

 

The Non-Theistic Origin of Moral Law: Arguments Regarding C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity:

G. Stolyarov II

August 13, 2007:

Mr. Stolyarov discusses the case C. S. Lewis makes in Mere Christianity for the allegedly unique status of moral law and its necessary derivation from some higher being such as a God. Mr. Stolyarov disputes both of these points and argues that the moral law is a fact of the same class as the law of gravitation and does not require a deity to emerge. While Mr. Stolyarov agrees with Lewis that absolute moral principles independent of subjective preferences exist, he maintains that they can be arrived at without any reference to God or the supernatural.

 

Politics

 

The Follies of Gun Control:

G. Stolyarov II

August 14, 2007:

When it comes to restricting private individuals’ Second Amendment rights, it seems that the world must turn upside down to justify gun control. Criminals need to obey the law, limited human beings need to be present everywhere and respond to anything, inanimate objects need to assume a volition of their own, and parents all of a sudden need to become totally oblivious to what their children are doing. Yes, all of these astounding assumptions are behind the common case for gun control. And, as logic dictates, either the assumptions themselves must be true, or the arguments made on their basis must be discarded as illegitimate. Read this essay by Mr. Stolyarov to find out whether the case for gun control can withstand logical scrutiny.

 

A Cloudy Mystery:

Alan Caruba

August 16, 2007:

Alan Caruba writes that there is a reason why one should be extremely wary of the computer models that are cited by the endless doomsday predictions of Al Gore, the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change, and all the other advocates of “global warming.” The reason is clouds. Computer models simply cannot provide for the constant variability of clouds, so they ignore them.

 

The Social Responsibility of Profits:

Paul Driessen

August 16, 2007:

Companies do not earn consistent profits or even a supposed “license to continue operating” by subscribing to fads, political schemes, or “corporate social responsibility” initiatives that reflect and promote the agendas of social or environmental activists. Paul Driessen writes that they do so by providing goods, services and technologies that society needs and values – legally, ethically, and by offering superior quality, lower cost, greater reliability, outstanding customer care and other benefits, while protecting the environment. They thereby stay in business and reward investors who made their innovations and products possible.

 

"It is the right of everyone to express his opinion, choose a profession and practice it, to dispose of property, and even to abuse it; to come and go without permission, and without having to account for his motives or undertakings."

~ Benjamin Constant