"‘The Left’ and Public Choice Theory"

Superb post. In the current intense debate about the role of government public choice theory is the trump card of conservatives. (Link via Cafe Hayek.)

From a public choice standpoint, however, if the modern social democratic state is the major source of special interest power then by far the most effective way to reduce this power would be to dismantle the apparatus of anti-competitive intervention in markets. This does not require an egalitarian fantasy land where all inequality is abolished. Rather, it requires a framework of limited government where inequalities which reflect superior performance and entrepreneurial ingenuity are welcomed but where those that reflect the power of crony capitalists, crony union bosses and public sector bureaucrats are reduced to a minimum.

Comments

[Curt Doolittle]

Yes, that's right. It's the Libertarian and classical liberal prescription to the letter.

[TheBigHenry]

Yeah, right. All you have to do is explain to the intelligentsia why dismantling "the apparatus of anti-competitive intervention in markets" is the sensible thing to do. The progressive intelligentsia is always keen on listening to reason.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

My favorite denialist being Paul Krugman, who claimed not only that he had never read any of the Public Choice literature, but that he never would.