Category Archives: Economics

Capitalism and Morality

Posted on December 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

In less than two minutes, Tom Palmer explains why capitalism is more moral and just than illiberal economic systems. Click here if the embedded video below doesn’t work.

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Posted in Economics

Economics and Christmas

Posted on December 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

Art Carden has an amusing article up at Forbes titled “Ruining Christmas: An Economist’s Guide.” Here’s a taste:

1. You Shouldn’t Have. No, Really. You Shouldn’t Have. The classic salvo in the literature on the economics of Christmas is Joel Waldfogel’s “The Deadweight Loss of Christmas,” which provides a bit of evidence that people would be happier if you gave them cash instead of an equally-expensive present. Yes, it’s the thought that counts, but how many of us have given (or gotten) gifts that have ended up in an end-of-year Goodwill donation or a Spring yard sale?

We learned this first-hand at a family holiday party that involved a white elephant gift exchange. Everyone went home happy, but one participant (an Alabama fan) opened a box of Auburn stuff, another (an Auburn fan) opened Alabama stuff, and one of the gifts I (an Alabama fan) opened was an LSU cap. Again, everything worked out in the end, but the initial distribution was incredibly inefficient.

Read the whole thing. Carden also wrote the equally amusing “How Economics Saved Christmas.” My review of Waldfogel’s book is here.

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Posted in Economics

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Cronyism in America

Posted on December 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

Don Boudreaux, Susan Dudley, and Bradley Schiller make some good points:

-Companies spending lots of time and money in Washington begging for handouts is not capitalism.

-Stricter regulation isn’t the solution. Companies routinely rig regulations in their favor to hobble competitors. That isn’t capitalism, either.

If the embedded video below doesn’t work, click here.

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Posted in Competition, Economics, regulation

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Tax Code Simplification, Virginia-Style

Posted on December 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

In an effort to shorten its lengthy and complicated tax code, the Commonwealth of Virginia is considering adding an $8,000 tax deduction for people who have their cremated remains shot into space.

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Posted in Economics, Taxation

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New York Sun Editorial on Andy Stern and China’s Economic Model

Posted on December 10, 2011 | Leave a comment

I am quoted in an editorial in today’s New York Sun:

Ryan Young of the Competitive Enterprise Institute wrote to say that America itself is not entirely a “free-market fundamentalist nation. “Federal, state and local governments combine to spend roughly 40% of GDP,” Mr. Young pointed out, “and that doesn’t count the cost of compliance with federal regulations.”

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Posted in Economics, Media Appearances

Free-Market Fundamentalism

Posted on December 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

This letter of mine in response to Andy Stern’s recent op-ed ran in today’s Wall Street Journal:

If America is indeed a free-market fundamentalist nation, it sure has a funny way of showing it. Federal, state and local governments combine to spend roughly 40% of GDP, and that doesn’t count the cost of compliance with federal regulations.

In his eagerness to attack free markets, Mr. Stern has confused the mixed economy’s crony capitalism with the real thing.

Ryan Young
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington

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Posted in Correspondence, Economics, regulation, Spending

Hayek and Macroeconomics

Posted on December 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

There’s a brewing debate in the economics blogosphere about whether Hayek was a macroeconomist. Was he or wasn’t he? Did his contributions matter?

For the uninitiated, macroeconomics is large-scale in focus. It looks at the big-picture economy. GDP, recessions, depressions, that kind of thing. Contrast that with microeconomics, which studies how individuals and individual firms behave. I like how Russ Roberts closes his contribution to the debate:

Was Hayek an important macroeconomist? I would argue that the macroeconomic skepticism of the later Hayek is more valuable than the macroeconomic theorizing of the early Hayek. But he wasn’t an important macroeconomist in the mainstream sense of the title. So what? That’s a badge of honor. He was merely a great economist, without any prefix. He helps me see things I wouldn’t otherwise see. That’s all that really counts.

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Posted in Economics

What Free Market?

Posted on December 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Here’s a letter to The Wall Street Journal:

Editor, The Wall Street Journal:

Andy Stern’s December 1 op-ed, “China’s Superior Economic Model,” blames America’s free-market fundamentalism for its economic troubles.

If America is indeed a free-market fundamentalist nation, it sure has a funny way of showing it. Federal, state, and local governments combine to spend roughly 40 percent of GDP. Washington indirectly spends another 12 percent of GDP by forcing businesses and consumers to comply with $1.75 trillion worth of federal regulations.

In his eagerness to attack free markets, Mr. Stern has confused the mixed economy’s crony capitalism for the real thing.

Ryan Young
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Washington, D.C.

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Posted in Correspondence, Economics

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Missing the Bigger Story

Posted on December 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

Here’s a letter I recently sent to the Washington Post:

Editor, Washington Post:

Anita Kumar’s November 29 Virginia Politics blog post “McDonnell recommends eliminating agencies, boards, commissions” incompletely details Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s “ongoing effort to reshape and shrink state government.” By deregulating three professions, eliminating two state agencies, and merging 19 others, $2 million could be trimmed from the commonwealth’s budget if the legislature approves the proposal.

She does not mention that Virginia’s budget is set to increase by $1.1 billion in 2012. This new spending outweighs the proposed cuts by a factor of 550. Gov. McDonnell may be modestly reshaping government, but he certainly isn’t shrinking it.

Ryan Young, Washington
The writer is a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

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Posted in Correspondence, Economics, Spending

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Well Played

Posted on November 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

An (inentionally?) humorous lede in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

The Internal Revenue Service office in Seattle is investigating an infestation of possible blood-sucking parasites — bedbugs — in its downtown office, after an employee complained of insect bites at work, federal officials said Monday.

Note the need to clarify that the parasites in questions don’t work for the IRS. I don’t think OSHA is in on the joke, though:
“It is alleged (that) management has known of the presence of these parasites for several weeks and has taken no action to remedy the situation,” OSHA said in a letter to the IRS dated Nov. 18.
My suggestion for getting rid of the parasites: simplify the 70,000-page tax code.

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Posted in Economics, Taxation

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