Quotation of the Day…

(Don Boudreaux)

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… is from page 26 of the late Fred McChesney’s 1995 essay “In Search of the Public-Interest Model of Antitrust,” which serves as the Introduction to Part One of the 1995 collection edited by Fred S. McChesney and William F. Shughart II, The Causes and Consequences of Antitrust (footnote deleted):

One might well ask how economists have come to conclude that antitrust is a desirable form of government intervention. If economists generally believe in the price system, on what basis did they come to believe that “market failures” involving lack of competition are both widespread and important enough to justify systematic antitrust law enforcement? The answer appears to be: on no scientific basis at all.

DBx: Yes.

But if you doubt McChesney, read Joseph Schumpeter’s 1942 book, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. (Schumpeter is pictured above.)