Russell Roberts's Blog, page 352

Quotation of the Day…

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is from Abraham Lincoln’s oration in his first debate with Stephen Douglas, which occurred in 1858:

Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible to be executed.

DBx: Ideas – including the manner in which these are expressed verbally and in writing and through entertainment – matter immensely. Change ideas, and you change the world. Don’t, and you don’t. Of course, it’s vital that the change in ideas be in a liberal, civilizing, and individual-respecting direction. Unfortunately, nothing guarantees this outcome; it must constantly be pursued.

…..

I discovered the above quotation from Lincoln on page 145 of Deirdre McCloskey’s and Art Carden’s marvelous new (2020) book, Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich: How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World.

Persuasion Isn’t Predation

(Don Boudreaux)

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Here’s another letter to the Wall Street Journal:

Editor:

Southwest Airlines’s plucky efforts to expand its market are described by someone quoted in your report as “predatory” (“‘Predatory and Opportunistic’: Southwest Airlines Seizes the Moment as Rivals Struggle,” Nov. 16). This descriptor, while commonly applied to firms that break the mold at successfully competing for customers, is utterly misleading.

Typically using violence, real predators take property that belongs to others. In so doing, they make society poorer by prompting people to produce less. Why produce a lot if it’s going to be stolen?

In contrast, so-called “predators” in business, such as Southwest Airlines, take nothing that belongs to others. Using only peaceful persuasion, they offer consumers better deals than are offered by rival firms. In so doing, they make society richer, not only by improving the lives of their customers, but also by motivating their rivals to match their superior performance.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux

Professor of Economics

and

Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA  22030

Bonus Quotation of the Day…

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is from pages 84-85 of my late Nobel-laureate colleague Jim Buchanan’s October 15th, 1968, The University of Virginia Newsletter essay, “The Thomas Jefferson Center for Studies in Political Economy,” as this essay is reprinted in The Soul of Classical Political Economy: James M. Buchanan from the Archives (2020) (edited by Peter J. Boettke and Alain Marciano):

A society is guided by its ruling philosophy – the prevailing conception of the “good” social order. Some political-economic philosophy must be the basis for intelligent social policy. Forthright and continuing discussion is necessary if this conception is to serve as a clear and coherent guide on numerous particular issues. Otherwise, statesmen and citizens will continue to lose their bearings amid the economic and social complexities of the mid-twentieth century.

DBx: Indeed so. And, of course, the same holds true for the even greater economic and social complexities of the early twenty-first century.

Cato’s Annual Monetary Conference…

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is the gold standard for such events. The 38th one happens on Thursday.

Some Links

(Don Boudreaux)

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Yevdokiya Zagumenova understands that everyone should stay home, except….

US News & World Report reports on one of the many maladies caused by Covid Derangement Syndrome. (HT my intrepid Mercatus Center colleague, Veronique de Rugy)

My Mercatus Center colleague Bobbi Herzberg moderated the discussion between Jeffrey Singer and Kristian Niemietz on Covid-19 and the policy responses to it.

David Henderson gives two thumbs down to the movie The Social Dilemma. Here’s his conclusion:

Various friends told me that The Social Dilemma would upset me. It did. As noted, I found the facts about young girls very disturbing. The biggest upset, though, is that a bunch of critics and a movie director manipulate viewers into not knowing that there is another side to this debate, understate the benefits of social media, and use the movie as a vehicle for a rant against capitalism. Other than that, the movie was great.

“Will Biden Repeal Trump’s Destructive Food Tariffs?”

Here’s Jacob Sullum on Justice Samuel Alito’s perfectly proper public criticism of some U.S. Senators’ tyrannical threat to ‘restructure’ the U.S. Supreme Court if it doesn’t rule as these Senators demand.

Peace Through Commerce

(Don Boudreaux)

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Here’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal:

Editor:

Andy Kessler notes that the Trump administration, by cutting off China’s Huawei from buying advanced microchips made by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., increased Beijing’s likelihood of launching a military offensive against Taiwan (“China Is Losing Its Bet on Chips,” Nov. 16). If Chinese manufacturers can’t acquire high-quality chips through commerce, their government might attempt to acquire the chips for them through conquest.

There’s a subtle but vital lesson here. Protectionism undertaken in the name of national security might well achieve its narrow goal of reducing an unfriendly country’s ability to acquire strategic goods through trade. Yet whatever is the resulting decrease in that foreign-government’s military capabilities must be weighed against the resulting increase in that government’s incentive to start a shooting war. When the latter exceeds the former, national-security protectionism makes the home country and its allies less secure.

It would be comforting if proponents of national-security protectionism were more aware of this tradeoff.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux

Professor of Economics

and

Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA  22030

Quotation of the Day…

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is from page 185 of the late Hans Rosling’s 2018 brilliant book, Factfulness:

Forming your worldview by relying on the media would be like forming your view about me by looking only at a picture of my foot. Sure, my foot is part of me, but it’s a pretty ugly part. I have better parts. My arms are unremarkable but quite fine. My face is OK. It isn’t that the picture of my foot is deliberately lying about me. But it isn’t showing you the whole of me.

DBx: The news media disproportionately focus on, and portray, those events that vividly grab emotional attention. The news media enlarge that which is seen and amplify that which is heard. In doing so, the new media ignore that which is unseen and that which is silent, or even merely quiet.

This reality has always been so, and it will continue to be so. Yet I know of no more destructive consequence of this regrettable reality than the news media’s grotesque distortion throughout 2020 of the dangers of Covid-19. A huge number – it seems to me, a large majority – of my fellow Americans have absolutely no clue about the true dangers of Covid. So many Americans today behave as if Covid is an angel-of-death that strikes indiscriminately and with appalling frequency, regardless of age or health.

The news media are the major super-spreader of the one disease that does now pose a clear and present and gargantuan danger to humanity: Covid Derangement Syndrome.

More from Ivor Cummins on Covid-19

(Don Boudreaux)

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Ivor Cummins is one of the relatively few sane, sober, and sensible voices today speaking about Covid-19 and Covid Derangement Syndrome.

Ivor Cummins on the BBC

(Don Boudreaux)

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Ivor Cummins is one of the relatively few sane, sober, and sensible voices today speaking about Covid-19 and Covid Derangement Syndrome.

Bonus Quotation of the Day…

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is from page 242 of Matt Ridley’s superb 2015 book, The Evolution of Everything:

The Levellers were what we would today call libertarians or classical liberals. They argued for private property, free trade, low taxes, limited government and freedom of the individual. The enemy for them was not commerce, but government.

DBx: Pictured above is Leveller John Lilburne.