4 ms·
There is an excellent free (and very short) book, "Economics in one lesson" by Henry Hazlitt, which explains very logically why minimum wage, rent controls and
by atemerev 9y ago
There is an excellent free (and very short) book, "Economics in one lesson" by Henry Hazlitt, which explains very logically why minimum wage, rent controls and other "band-aid" economical measures always end badly:
https://mises.org/system/tdf/Henry%20Hazlitt%20Economics%20in%20One%20Lesson.pdf?file=1&type=document https://mises.org/system/tdf/Henry%20Hazlitt%20Economics%20i...
It is like 2-hour reading, but very enlightening.
- taw55 9y agoAnd very ideologically biased...
- greggyb 9y agoAnd yet presents a framework of analysis that is objective and a case study in the application of bias to an objective technique. The lesson of the book is more than the ideology of its author. It is hubris or naivete in the extreme to assume that someone you disagree with has nothing valuable to say.
- taw55 9y agoAustrian economics is not "objective".
- atemerev 9y agoWhat subjectivity is in it?
- greggyb 9y ago> > It is hubris or naivete in the extreme to assume that someone you disagree with has nothing valuable to say. You think you disagree with me, and you clearly disagree with Austrian economics. Yet, with less than one page's worth of reading, you can identify the core lesson of the book, excerpted below. That the author then applies this lesson in ways you find objectionable is no judgment on the lesson itself. Chapter 1, Paragraph 1: While certain public policies would in the long run benefit everybody, other policies would benefit one group only at the expense of all other groups. The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will argue for them plausibly and persistently. Chapter 1, Paragraph 2: there is a second main factor that spawns new economic fallacies every day. This is the persistent tendency of men to see only the immediate effects of a given policy, or its effects only on a special group, and to neglect to inquire what the long-run effects of that policy will be not only on that special group but on all groups. It is the fallacy of overlooking secondary consequences. In case you feel any desire to actually engage with the ideas of the book, it can be read for free, in full, here: https://www.mises.org/library/economics-one-lesson https://www.mises.org/library/economics-one-lesson
- atemerev 9y agoLogic is not ideologically biased. Universal basic income is also ideologically biased (in the other direction); however, it has this fine distinction that it is actually technically impossible. Even retirement schemes are falling all over the world; UBI is 10-20 times more expensive.
- tptacek 9y agoLet's be clear here that Hazlitt is not himself an economist.
- ancap 9y agoTo address this point I will quote from Walter Block[1]: >Just because Hazlitt has no formal credentials in economics does not render his views fallacious or superficial. There are other highly respected economists, in the modern era, who do not have a PhD in economics: David Friedman (physics PhD), Henry Manne (law degree), Gordon Tullock (law degree). Gary Becker wrote a lot about sociology, but his PhD was in economics. Several non economists actually won Nobel Prizes in economics, several with degrees in psychology. Nobel Prize Winner Elinor Ostrom’s PhD degree was in political science, not economics. Many economists in history had no formal training in this subject. This disproves their views? [1] http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2017/05/a-response-to-intellectually-abused.html http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2017/05/a-response-to-i...
- tptacek 9y agoHazlitt wasn't a scholar of any sort. He was a writer. He's got about as much authority on this subject as John Stossel. The irony of this citation is that we're commenting on a paper that opens by observing that the theory of minimum wages, derived in effect from economic first principles, hugely oversimplifies the empirical reality. And as support for that study.. Hazlitt.