Anderson’s text tells us why privatization is important in the poor countries and it shares a few sound principles of a successful privatization. The author believes that privatization is beneficial if 100% of the company is sold by the government, if it’s open to all investors, both foreign and national, if the government does not
Is it possible for a community to pursue traditional Socialist objectives using tools that aren’t traditionally associated with Socialism? The idea that income inequality is an inevitable by-product, a price paid for economic efficiency, is frequently part of the verbal, informal component of introductory economic courses; what the formal economic theory fails to explain is
“We do not know now God or Heaven. We cannot know. Not only do we face uncertainty about God, we also have the feeling of existential insecurity: we could die at any moment, something bad might happen any time. But, in case there is life after death, the perspective changes and we will learn how
The operating costs of the state. The concept of hidden taxation. Listing all the visible taxes and an attempt to calculate the sum. What is money spent on? What’s the budget’s structure? What explains the structure? Is it justifiable? What is the mechanism through which inflation pick out of the private agents’ pockets? What about
Can we get evolutionary stable strategies (ESS) from repeatedly apply the prisoner’s dilemma (PD) within a population? Axelrod says so, provided we introduce a penalty strategy for those who fail to punish defectors (breaking of norms/ non-cooperation). Boyd and Lorberbaum disagree and say that the tit for tat strategy is easily reversible (makes the transition
The decision taken by the last Orthodox Church Council/ Synod allows priests to run for office in the local council elections. Given that local councils are institutions of the state, what are the implications of additional formal representation of the Church’s interests in such institutions? Who would profit from the nationalization of the Orthodox Church?
The selection is from ‘Origins of Virtue’ by Matt Ridley, chapter 9, ‘The Source of War’. The previous chapters (2-8) describe just about the same arguments used by Tullock in his text which was presented by Ionut two weeks ago. This chapter focuses on the less desirable consequences of the sociability of people: xenophobia, war,
Mises’s text from ‘Human Action’ shows the negative effects of a raise in the minimum wage, a dear subject to all labour unions. This raise produces unemployment, while the unions call for violence and violates property rights. The raise of the minimum wage is an artificial rise (above the equilibrium mark) in the price for
Tullock’s research program explains both the cooperative behaviour and the coercive behaviour through the selfish interest of individuals (or the ‘individual reasoning’). The text also points to Darwin’s theory. Tullock describes a series of impersonal biological and social mechanisms that generate order/ induce cooperative behaviour and shows why the interest of the strong individual will
The article looks on the process of post-communist transition, from an institutional perspective. The author stresses that resources play a secondary role in explaining the transition, as opposed to the importance of an institutional framework that facilitates or hinders economic development. Different results owe to differences in the institutional construction, and more importantly, to differences
