The Constitution of Liberty
... Friedrich Hayek indicated that the theory of land value taxation is based on an underlying assumption that it is possible to distinguish between the increase in land value due to communal efforts and that due to the efforts of the landowners [20]. This assumption enables the government to calculate an appropriate tax rate that confiscates the unearned earning of the landowners without harming their deserved interests. ...
... This assumption enables the government to calculate an appropriate tax rate that confiscates the unearned earning of the landowners without harming their deserved interests. However, as Friedrich Hayek suggested, the assumption is unsound "because no such distinction can be drawn with any degree of certainty" [20]. Therefore, it was fundamentally unsound to argue that land value taxation is able to appropriately confiscate the undeserved gains of the landowners. ...
Land value tax, a variant of the property tax, is a recurrent tax levied upon unimproved land value, which does not include the improvements of the land. In practice, a land value tax can be imposed on both land and its improvements with a higher tax rate on land. The motivation behind adapting a land value tax is to mitigate the negative impacts brought forth by traditional property taxation, which imposes the same tax rate on land and improvements. These negative impacts include distortion of economic activities and undesirable distribution of the tax incidence. In contrast, land value taxation has stronger theoretical support. It takes the unearned revenue of the landowners, promotes economic activities without incurring inefficiency, and redistributes income and wealth to promote equality. However, the theoretical case does not entirely reflect the challenges of implementation and political resistance that land value taxation encounter.
... The degree of government coercion or interference is an issue that has long been studied and discussed in political-instruments research (e.g., Doern, 1981;Doern & Phidd, 1983). It is, furthermore, a central issue in major economic debates of the last century (Hayek, 1978;Keynes, 1936). Preserving self-determined decision-making is an important value for most people in Western countries. ...
The successful introduction of public policies to prompt behavior change hinges on the degree to which citizens endorse the proposed policies. Although there is a large body of research on psychological determinants of public policy acceptance, these determinants have not yet been synthesized into an integrative framework that proposes hypotheses about their interplay. In this article, we develop a review-based, integrative public-policy-acceptance framework that introduces the desire for governmental support as a motivational foundation in public-policy acceptance. The framework traces the route from problem awareness to policy acceptance and, ultimately, policy compliance. We propose this relationship to be mediated by a desire for governmental support. We integrate numerous key variables assumed to qualify the relationship between problem awareness and the desire for governmental support, such as control attributions, trust, and value fit, as well as the relationship between the desire for governmental support and policy acceptance, such as perceived policy effectiveness, intrusiveness, and fairness. We exemplify the use of the proposed framework by applying it to climate policies.
... The degree of government coercion or interference is an issue that has long been studied and discussed in political-instruments research (e.g., Doern, 1981;Doern & Phidd, 1983). It is, furthermore, a central issue in major economic debates of the last century (Hayek, 1978;Keynes, 1936). Preserving self-determined decision-making is an important value for most people in Western countries. ...
The successful introduction of public policies to prompt behavior change hinges on the degree to which citizens endorse the proposed policies. While there is a large body of research on psychological determinants of policy acceptance, these determinants have not yet been synthesized into an integrative framework that proposes hypotheses about their interplay. In this article, we develop a review-based, integrative public policy acceptance framework that introduces the desire for governmental support as a motivational foundation in public policy acceptance. The framework traces the route from problem awareness to policy acceptance and, ultimately, policy compliance. We propose this relationship to be mediated by the motivation to desire governmental support. We integrate numerous key variables assumed to qualify the relationship between problem awareness and the desire for governmental support, such as control attributions, trust, and value fit, as well as the relationship between the desire for governmental support and policy acceptance, such as perceived policy effectiveness, intrusiveness, and fairness. We exemplify the use of the proposed framework applying it to climate policies.
... También analizamos documentación técnica y apuntes de reuniones depositados en Internet hasta enero de 2020. En la coyuntura histórica actual, en la que la «avaricia racional» [Rand, 1988] y el «egoísmo» [Hayek, 1960] se han vuelto aceptables como fuerzas impulsoras, ¿cómo limitar el uso del agua sin imponer límites? ¿Cómo los productores de zanahorias, los miembros de una comunidad de permacultura y los residentes están enfrentando el futuro de la administración del agua? ...
... This natural, individual dynamism is augmented by social interactionism. Where many people, individually seeking out their own betterment, interact to share knowledge and ideas and to produce new solutions, the generative capacity of those individuals, conjointly, is exponentially augmented ( Bylund, 2016 ;Hayek, 1948Hayek, , 1978aMises, 1949 ). Ongoing changes to social situations (changing supply, demand, production capacity, etc.) are accompanied by ever-changing individual knowledge and expectations, which requires adapting coordinative plans ( Lachmann, 1977( Lachmann, , 1986. ...
As design science advances into the foreground of entrepreneurship theory, we see a meta-theoretical tension between Simon's classic exposition of design and entrepreneurship theory's foundations within the Austrian school of economics. To resolve this tension, we argue that design science is mispositioned atop the conventional positivism that Simon embraced and is much better aligned with Austrian-style subjectivism of values, knowledge, and expectations. We elaborate design themes from classical contributions to Austrian economics to lay foundations for an “Austrian” approach to design. We conclude by illustrating how design processes are foundational to Austrian market theory and the Austrian theory of the firm.
... Wealth is the free power. It unifies the nature of freedom [9,[15][16][17] in literature, philosophy, politics, economics, ecology and physics---freedom is wealth, that is, free energy. ...
This article reclaims Jeremy Bentham from the trend of characterizing him as an intellectual inspiration for neoclassicism and neoliberalism. It demonstrates that, although Bentham’s early thought subscribed to both ontological and methodological individualism, he later revised this perspective. In the early 19th century, Bentham developed a theory of ‘psychological dynamics’, asserting self-interest as a universal axiom. Individuals calculate their interests within historically situated power dynamics, influenced by their social location. This insight led Bentham to construct a theory of social ontology in which individual development was conceived as co-constitutive with social structures. Institutions were reconceptualized as vestiges of elite interests, necessitating radical constitutional reform. Thus, while Bentham’s early work provided a methodological framework later appropriated by neoclassicism and neoliberalism, his mature thought aligns more closely with the radical traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries, making him the antithesis of the neoliberal worldview.
This chapter continues the analysis of those mechanisms in liberal democracy that appear to connect the two main components of political relations, the state and civil society. Here the focus is on political parties, and to a lesser degree on lobbies, referenda, and the ombudsoffice. There is, moreover, a set of informal processes that has always existed but now much expanded and so they cannot be ignored. “Shadow links” is the label these processes have been given, and they include state creditors, credit rating agencies, corporate consultancies, mass media, global regulators such as the IMF and the World Bank, corporatized state agencies, and ‘revolving doors,’ among other forms of quasi-legal influencing.
In this article the following topics will be discussed: the idea and the reason why this notion of the Social Market economy has been created. The influence of Müller-Armack and Ludwig Erhard will be discussed, but the idea will also be compared with the ideas of Neoliberalism and Ordoliberalism. The meaning of Equality, Value and Merit, redistribution of income, justitia distributiva and justitia commutativa and poverty will be discussed in the framework of the idea of social market economy; In this matter the role of Röpke and Rüstow will be explained as well as the (lateral) influence of Keynes. In the conclusion the future will also being scrutinised.
The accurate interpretation of Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s argumentation ethics inevitably leads to the conclusion that appropriation of creative works ought to be rejected since only tangibles can and need to be owned for artistic conceptions are ideal, not-scarce (non-excludable and non-rivalrous) objects. Moreover, their ownership would inevitably lead to a conflict over titles to their exemplars. Incorporeal rights are thus inconsistent with both the praxeological axiom and absoluteness of negative rights. Hence, an attempt to introduce “artificial scarcity” through positive copyright law is unethical. It disregards the fundamental rules of any rational ethics: universality (equality before the law) and operationality (suitability for mankind survival) because it interferes with the propertarian axiom of self-ownership and the principle of non-aggression. Therefore, a property in artistic conceptions is neither rationally feasible nor indispensable and entails self-contradiction of any deontological theory based on rules of praxeology.
В предлагаемом аналитическом обзоре рассмотрены ключевые аспекты работы с информацией в рамках информационной экономики и экономики знаний, а также в других направлениях экономической науки. Информация в экономической теории и практике играет ключевую роль в принятии экономических решений. В теории обычно выделяют поиск информации как снижение неопределенности; затраты на поиск; определение оптимальной продолжительности поиска; разработку стратегии принятия решений о необходимости дополнительного сбора информации; модели информационных каскадов, стадного поведения; неприятия неоднозначности; рационального невнимания. Информация может быть наделена различными свойствами (асимметричная, неполная, зашумленная). К современным задачам в области информации экономики относятся исследования управления атрибутами и стоимостью информационных продуктов, с учетом различной ценности информации для разных покупателей, изучаются оптимальные механизмы раскрытия информации, продажи информации. На основе проделанного анализа сформулированы выводы о необходимости новых аналитических инструментов.
The proposed analytical review examines the key aspects of working with information in the information economy and the knowledge economy, as well as in other areas of economic science. Information in economic theory and practice plays a key role in making economic decisions. In theory, information search is usually distinguished as reducing uncertainty; search costs; determining the optimal search duration; developing a strategy for making decisions about the need for additional information collection; models of information cascades, herd behavior; rejection of ambiguity; rational inattention. Information can be endowed with various properties (asymmetric, incomplete, noisy). Modern tasks in the field of information economy include research on the management of the attributes and value of information products, taking into account the different value of information for different buyers, and the optimal mechanisms for information disclosure and information sales. On the basis of the performed analysis, conclusions are formulated about the need for new analytical tools.
After laying out a conventional account of the formalism vs. realism debates, this Article argues that formalism and realism are at once impossible and entrenched. To say they are impossible is to say that they are not as represented — that they cannot deliver their promised goods. To say that they are entrenched is to say that these forms of thought are sedimented as thought and practice throughout law’s empire. We live thus amidst the ruins of formalism and realism. The disputes between these two great determinations of American law continue today, but usually in more localized or circumscribed forms. We see versions of the disputes, for instance, in the stylized disagreements over the desired form of judicial doctrines (rules vs. standards); or the best rendition of key political values like equality (formal vs. substantive); or the proper mode of judicial interpretation (textual vs. purposive). Here too, the arguments that comprise the localized variants of the dispute remain inconclusive. The Article concludes by mapping “the logics of collapse” — specifically, some critical moves that undermine the rhetorical and intellectual force of the formalism vs. realism disputes and their localized variants. The aims here are several. First, the ability to deploy the critical moves helps with analysis. The critical moves help show how the arguments are constructed in the first place and how they are rhetorically and intellectually compromised. Second, and relatedly, the critical moves allow us to avoid being taken in by the formalism vs. realism arguments and their localized variants. Third, the aim is to show how our formalist and realist argumentation has already been surpassed by a legal “logic” that undermines the cogency of that argumentation.
Social justice is a critical issue that bears significantly on the success of modernization efforts. Broadly speaking, the success of a country’s modernization can be gauged by its performance in three key aspects: first, whether the modernization process is guided by a correct direction that effectively avoids significant deviations; second, whether it can garner a continuous driving force to prevent a decline in momentum; and third, whether it can proceed in a secure environment that effectively forestalls social upheaval, the forfeiture of past achievements, or exorbitant social costs. All these are directly related to social justice. In other words, actively maintaining and promoting social justice is an indispensable condition for the success of modernization.
This chapter explores the increasing academic and political interest in the “Flat Tax” system, particularly inspired by the outcomes observed in countries with proportional taxation. By analyzing a sample of 109 scientific articles from the Scopus platform using bibliometric indicators, the chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the research trends and key findings in this area. The study reveals a significant rise in publications and citations over the last few decades, with a strong focus from European researchers, though the USA shows the highest interest. The findings indicate that the topic spans various disciplines, resulting in diverse and sometimes conflicting conclusions. This chapter underscores the importance of continued investigation into the flat tax to better understand its broader implications.
This chapter surveys the influence and thinking of Hannah Arendt and Che Guevara regarding education. Despite their many differences, both thinkers are surprisingly similar in seeing authority in an ideal community as self-justifying and therefore authorizing a certain amount of repression by the state. The essay turns to the later thinking of Michel Foucault and his theory of a utopian liberalism to provide individuals a way to both join in but not be subjugated by larger collectivities. The chapter concludes that universities can embrace a form of Foucault's utopianism and allow the left and right to debate their respective positions and not need to censor views except in the most extreme cases. The goal in free speech should be to make students into thinking subjects.
Neither a cosmological justification of rights as deriving from god nor a natural law justification of rights is defensible in this posttra- ditional era. Hannah Arendt (1973) spoke of ‘a right to have rights’ (296) in the context of the human misery of the Holocaust and the displacement of peoples following World War II. The point she raises though has relevance throughout human history, even prior to the emergence of bills of rights as she clearly demonstrates (297). Her incisive discussion disrobes bills of rights, extricating rights from a tight legal set of definitions and instead presenting them in human terms. In relation to stateless people or others deprived of human rights she says: ‘their freedom of opinion is a fool’s freedom, for nothing they think matters anyhow’ (296). In terms of fundamental rights, it is not enough that they are legally enforceable. At their most fundamental level all humans require recognition, a human who is not respected, has his or her dignity assaulted. This is important at two levels. It is important in terms of the quality of life, autonomy and identity of each individual and it is also important in terms of how we begin to formulate clear and irrefutable justifications for human rights. To begin to chart such a justification I will explore firstly the concepts of recognition, respect and dignity and secondly how they are socially and politically framed communicatively.
O presente trabalho teve o objetivo de verificar qual fator, dentre liberdade econômica e desigualdade, teria uma relação mais significativa com o grau do desenvolvimento humano em um país. Para isto, realizou-se uma coleta de dados de indicadores das variáveis a serem estudadas, como o Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH), o Índice Gini e o Índice de Liberdade Econômica (ILE); e realizou-se uma regressão linear cross-section utilizando o método dos mínimos quadrados a fim de obter os tipos e graus de relações entre as variáveis. O principal resultado foi verificar que a liberdade econômica tem relação positiva e forte com o grau de desenvolvimento humano, enquanto a desigualdade apresenta relação negativa e fraca. Concluiu-se que políticas de ampliação da liberdade econômica tem impacto mais significativo em melhorias do IDH do que políticas redistributivas.
The discipline of economics has long dominated the role of the social sciences in public policy. While this can partly be explained by the superior sophistication of economic theory, this is in itself partly the result of the tendency of economists to ignore complex variables that stand outside its own sphere. A number of policy examples are discussed, which demonstrate some of the negative consequences that have flowed from this: enduring economic geographical inequalities among cities and regions; the impact of unregulated globalization; the initial construction of the single European currency; recent labour market reforms; and the use of market analogues in public services. It will be concluded that the quality of much public policy-making in many countries would have been improved if the knowledge and insights of other social sciences had had access to policy-makers alongside economists. This would however demand a greater willingness among decision-makers to accept ambiguity and uncertainty in the advice that they receive from social scientists.
The Digital Markets Act is a new European Regulation which entered into force on October 2022. It will apply to “gatekeepers”, namely undertakings providing core platform services, with the aim of fostering “fairness” and “contestability” in the digital sector. If these objectives appear at first sight both relevant and legitimate, this paper sheds light on the dark side of this Regulation by arguing that it will undermine the Rule of Law. Indeed, for several reasons which will be discussed, the Digital Markets Act will impede or limit the respect of principles which are deeply rooted in the legal tradition of European countries. This leads to an important question: is the cure worse than the disease?
El ensayo analiza el concepto de seguridad jurídica cuestionando la generalizada asunción de que la seguridad jurídica sea una cuestión de predictibilidad. La seguridad jurídica, se argumenta, no es una cuestión de mera predictibilidad de los resultados de las decisiones judiciales, sino más bien una cuestión atinente a la correcta identificación de las consecuencias jurídicas de un determinado caso. Teniendo en cuenta esta aclaración, el ensayo ofrece un tentativo escrutinio acerca de cuál es el lugar de la seguridad jurídica en la teoría y en la práctica del Estado constitucional.
With the defeat of the Bolsonaro government in the 2022 elections and President Lula’s return to power supported by a broad coalition in defense of democracy, the country entered a new phase with the challenge of rebuilding democratic institutions, citizenship rights, and a sustainable economic model.We offer valuable lessons on the need for reconstruction to go beyond mere restoration and move toward a new, democratic, and inclusive model of development, overcoming the dichotomy between the economic model and social policies. Austerity policies shaped by liberal canons have strangled the capacity of public investment. At the same time, policies aimed at protecting economic and social rights should be articulated to an inclusive economic development model, overcoming accumulated institutional weaknesses that facilitated their subsequent dismantling.
John Locke's role in the advent of modernity has been debated widely. His work has been (ab)used by those arguing from libertarian, democratic, communitarian, socialist, feminist, or postcolonial points of view, either portraying him as a forefather of their preferred political theory or as an antagonist to their avowed political and philosophical goals. In this paper, we are primarily concerned with highlighting the importance of the executive's prerogative in Locke's philosophy, as we argue that this concept, often banished to the sidelines , is indeed central to Locke's political theory. This partial neglect entails that some of the most popular readings of Locke are potentially based on faulty premises. We focus on how Locke's prerogative is antithetical to the project of seeing Locke as a forefather of libertarianism. Furthermore, this paper's arguments could also support challenges to interpretations of Locke as an early and important proponent of democracy. Rather than seeking to find support for modern theories through anachronistic and dubious readings of Locke, we focus on how he conceived of an exceedingly strong executive whose actions are exclusively restricted by the public good. We conclude that there is good reason to consider his philosophy proto-utilitarian, something that further highlights the conflict with libertarianism. As such, we conclude that libertarian or democratic theories postulating Locke as their direct predecessor should be reexamined to account for these findings.
Spontaneous order literature (“Tradition of Spontaneous Order” (1982) by Norman Barry; The Scottish Enlightenment and the Theory of Spontaneous Order (1987) by Ronald Hamowy; "Spontaneous Order" (1989) by Robert Sugden; "The Theory of Spontaneous Order and Cultural Evolution in the Social Theory of F.A. Hayek" (1990) by Peter J. Boettke; Calculation and Coordination: Essays on Socialism and Transitional Political Economy (2001) by Peter J. Boettke; Hayek's Liberalism and Its Origins: His Idea of Spontaneous Order and the Scottish Enlightenment (2001) by Christina Petsoulas; "The Origin and Scope of Hayek’s Idea of Spontaneous Order" (2007) by Louis Hunt; "Spontaneous Order" (2015) by Daniel J. D'Amico; "Spontaneous Economic Order" (2016) by Yong Tao) has long downplayed the ideas of Michael Polanyi. When attempts were being made to change this attitude ("Polanyi on Liberal Neutrality" (1996/97) by C. P. Goodman; "Michael Polanyi and Spontaneous Order, 1941-1951" (1997) by Struan Jacobs), they mostly suggested to replace Hayek with Polanyi as the key figure who recoined the concept for the twentieth century. Not surprisingly, scholars of Austrian economics jumped into the arena of competing priority claims ("Against Polanyi-Centrism: Hayek and the Re-Emergence of “Spontaneous Order”" (2005) by John P. Bladel) and claimed that Hayek, von Mises and Röpke have argued for such an order long before Polanyi’s first writing using this terminology was published in 1948. Only a few accounts attempted to present some kind of balance in this respect (Adam Smith's Political Philosophy: The Invisible Hand and Spontaneous Order (2006) by Craig Smith; The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek, Volume 15: The Market and Other Orders (2014) by Bruce Caldwell; "Friedrich Hayek and Michael Polanyi in Correspondence" (2016) by Struan Jacobs and Phil Mullins; The Architecture of Neoliberalism: How Contemporary Architecture Became an Instrument of Control and Compliance (2016) by Douglas Spencer; "Editorial Introduction to ‘Collectivist Planning’ by Michael Polanyi (1940)" (2019) by Geoffrey M. Hodgson). This paper aims to explore the so far untold characteristics of Polanyi’s spontaneous order theory through analysing archival materials and doing so offers a reason for reconsidering what we have to know about the history of spontaneous order theory. And this reconsideration might lead to developing new, more fine-grained and viable theories of spontaneous order, including those that can treat claims of spontaneous order and claims of social justice not as incompatible but as compatible aims in ordering social affairs. This perspective should, no doubt, come in handy in our increasingly polarized societies at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
This paper argues—contra some Austro-libertarians—that whether a given exchange is welfare-enhancing or welfare-diminishing does not depend on whether that exchange is just or unjust, respectively. Rather, we suggest that in light of our two thought experiments, Austro-libertarianism has at least a pro tanto reason to conceive of justice and welfare as two logically distinct ideals. This would in turn, most interestingly, predict the possibility of (a) just but welfare-diminishing exchanges and (b) unjust but welfare-enhancing ones. Upon considering possible rejoinders to our points, we suggest that Austro-libertarians abandon a justice-based notion of welfare.
In this paper we analyse the concept of coerced exchange (and partly of voluntary exchange inasmuch as the absence of coercion is its necessary condition), which is of utmost importance to economic theory in general and to the Austrian School of Economics in particular. The subject matter literature normally assumes that a coerced action occurs under threat. Threats in turn can be studied from the perspective of speech act theory, which is concerned with the speaker’s intentions. Ultimately, our goal is to provide a descriptive (i.e. non-moralized) definitions of threat and coercion, based on the analysis of the coercer’s intentions. If successful, we would be in a position to present such an account of coerced and voluntary exchanges that is compatible with both speech act theory and the Austrian methodology. Although we focus on the Austrian School of Economics, we believe that our investigations might impact on economic theory in general. We also criticize a rights-based account of coercion employed in the research practice of some neo-Austrians and based on the libertarian ethic of property rights.
Nach kurzen Erläuterungen zu Karl Poppers (1902–1994) Kritischem Rationalismus wird die Relevanz klassischer Entscheidungsregeln für die Zielsetzungen wirtschaftspolitischen Handelns bewertet. Behandelt werden dabei die Maximax-, Leximax-, Maximin-, Leximin-, Hurwicz-, Savage-Niehans-, Laplace-, Bayes- und μ-σ-Regel. Das Gefangenen-Dilemma leitet die Berücksichtigung strategischer Aspekte ein. In deren Zentrum steht die Strategieanalyse mit der Untersuchung externer und interner Umweltbedinungen, die Strategieentwicklung mit GAP-, SWOT-, TOWS-Analyse und Benchmarking sowie die Strategieformulierung mit der Innovations-, Imitations-, Adaptions-, Kostenführerschafts-, Differenzierungs-, Nischen- und Diversifikationsstrategie. Die 36 Strategeme des Tan Daoji geben einen Einblick in das Denken chinesischer Strategen. Nach verhaltensökonomischen Erläuterungen zu systematischen („biases“) und unsystematischen („noise“) Verzerrungen sowie zum staatlichen Nudging und Sludging bildet die Präsentation des innovationsfreundlichen Serendipitätsprinzips den Abschluss dieses Kapitels.
In den politökonomischen Grundlagen wird gezeigt, wie politische Kalküle die Wirtschaftspolitik eines Landes beeinflussen: Für den Wählerstimmen maximierenden Politiker sind die Präferenzen des Medianwählers sowie der politische Konjunkturzyklus von zentraler Bedeutung. Bürokraten und andere Interessengruppen verfolgen zum Teil Ziele, die den kollektiven Zielen einer Volkswirtschaft zuwiderlaufen. Rentenstreben und anreizinkompatible Regulierungen sorgen für mangelnde Effizienz wirtschaftspolitischen Handelns. Lösungen, die für eine tragfähige Schulden- und eine nachhaltige Klimapolitik erforderlich sind, stehen Zeitinkonsistenzen entgegen, sofern positive Effekte erst langfristig zu erwarten sind, Kosten hingegen bereits kurz- und mittelfristig anfallen. Auch wenn ihre Bedeutung aufgrund des hohen Abstraktionsgrades, der für universalistische Prinzipien charakteristisch ist, oft unterschätzt wird, so gehört der Schutz privater Eigentums- und Verfügungsrechte zu einer der wichtigsten Aufgaben der Wirtschaftspolitik.
The theory and practice of corporate governance has been in something of an arms race with corporate malefactors-as corporate governance mechanisms have incrementally advance, so too have the strategies of malefactors who skirt those gov-ernance practices to engage in costly misconduct. Modern centralized governance approaches appear inapt to filling the gaps caused by agency and knowledge problems. Here, we start afresh using the atypical 'praxeological' method to reconstruct governance theory anew from basic foundations. The resultant theory is distinctive from prevailing corporate governance theorizing in several key ways. One of the more important conclusions from our reconstructed theory is that governance may benefit from a more 'market' or decentralized approach. In short, the governance holes derived from agency and knowledge problems are, or may be, much smaller when governance is decentralized, where employees police each other. While the implementation of such a radical rethinking of governance practice is left ambiguous in our treatment, the theoretical basis for such an approach is compelling. Keywords Corporate governance · Agency theory · Knowledge asymmetry · Ownership · Management · Praxeological method JEL Classification G30 · G34 · O16 · B53 · D82 · D86 Most directors today recognize the importance of robust oversight, but it is unclear whether boards, as they are currently constituted and operate, are up to the task. The increasing size and complexity of companies, the expanding array of risk areas, and the difficulty boards have in getting the information needed to exercise effective oversight all bode poorly for a positive answer to this question.
How is freedom valuable? And how should we go about defining freedom? In this essay, I discuss a distinction between two general ways of valuing freedom: one appeals to the good (e.g., to freedom's contribution to well‐being); the other appeals to how persons have reason to treat one another in virtue of their status as purposive beings (to the right). The analysis of these two values has many relevant implications and it is preliminary to a better understanding of the relationships between freedom and justice. First, it contributes to shed light on the relationship between trust and the value of freedom, and on two attitudes towards freedom – promoting and respecting freedom. Second, it disambiguates between two versions of the claim that freedom has non‐specific/content‐independent value: one appeals to the good, the other to the right. And third, I show that certain implications concerning the definition of freedom follow from assuming an account of the value of freedom that exclusively appeals to the right, illustrating how the value of freedom can shape what freedom is.
Twice in the Journal of Business Ethics, Walter Block provides a libertarian argument that The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is unjust because it is a violation of a business’s property rights and therefore ought to be repealed. No libertarian reply to Block has ever been given, creating the mistaken impression that his argument is the true representation of libertarian theory with regards to civil rights. This paper focuses on Title II and argues that both Block, and this prevailing opinion of libertarian theory, are wrong. There are different types of libertarian theory. Block’s theory of natural rights is one of them, but there is another strain of libertarian thought that embraces the common law, at least as it existed up until the late 1800’s. This paper explicates a libertarian argument, based on the common law, which supports and defends Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Specifically, the evolution of contracts via assumpsit arguments, found in Blackstone’s Commentaries, endogenously and consistently gives rise to the obligation to serve all. Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is consistent with this common law tradition on public accommodations. Libertarian arguments that accept the common law on contracts ought also to accept common law doctrine on public accommodations and, perforce, the justness of Title II.
With the development of global value chains, more and more countries are involved in global trade, which has brought an extensive social impact. Past studies on the employment impact of trade have pointed out that free trade has significantly boosted employment in developing economies, with large populations working in export-related jobs along the value chains. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused global trade protectionism to become more rampant. This study aims to establish a trade employment effect accounting model, based on the comparison of multiple scenarios, to discuss the employment impact of trade lockdown on major developing and developed countries. Specifically, based on a multi-regional input–output model, we map the flow network of trade-induced employment in 15 major global economies, and the scenarios of free trade and restricted trade are simulated to determine the employment impact of protectionism across multiple trade patterns. The results show that the current labor flow induced by global trade mainly flows from developing countries such as China and India to developed countries such as the EU and the United States. In the total employment induced by trade, the proportion of final products trade reached 42.82%. Trade protection would cut 19.86 million jobs worldwide. Under the trade restriction scenario, employment in developing countries would be reduced, with China and India losing 45.24 million and 10.10 million jobs, respectively. People working in the final product processing trade face the greatest risk of unemployment, especially in manufacturing and services. Among developed countries, the EU and the US would add 5.52 and 2.23 million jobs due to industrial repatriation.
Özgürlükçülük (libertaryanizm), özellikle 20. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren refah devletlerinin yaşadığı verimlilik sorunlarına çare olarak önerilen iktisadi ve felsefi yaklaşımlardan biridir. Kuramsal tarama modelinde desenlenen bu çalışmanın amacı özgürlükçülüğün eğitime ilişkin varsayımlarını betimlemek ve uygulama sonuçlarından hareketle bu varsayımların geçerliliğini tartışmaktır. Özgürlükçülüğün temel varsayımları, ağırlıklı olarak Hayek ve Friedman’ın çalışmalarına dayalı olarak şekillenmiştir. Özgürlükçülüğün eğitime ilişkin varsayımları ise çoğunlukla Friedman’ın öne sürdüğü devletin eğitime müdahalesini meşrulaştıran gerekçeler etrafında tartışılmaktadır. Bu gerekçelerden ilki etkili bir rekabeti olanaksız kılan yüksek altyapı maliyeti nedeniyle devletin doğal tekele dönüşmesi veya eğitim alanında piyasa aksaklıklarının ortaya çıkmasıdır. İkinci gerekçe komşuluk etkileri gibi dışsallıkların varlığı; üçüncü gerekçe ise eğitimin nihai hedeflerinin belirsizliğiyle ilgilidir. Sonuç olarak, Friedman’ın ortaya koyduğu devletin eğitime müdahalesini meşrulaştıran gerekçeler evrensel niteliklere sahip olmadıkları halde evrensel genellemelere dönüştürülmüştür. Bu genellemelerden hareketle evrensel sorunlara karşı önerdikleri çözümlerin ilk ve ortaöğretim düzeyinde öğrenciler arasındaki mevcut eşitsizliklerin derinleşmesi ve bütçe harcamalarının artması gibi etkilere, yükseköğretim düzeyinde ise ağır insani maliyetlerin yanında devletlerin iktisadi sistemleri için risk teşkil eden borç balonlarının ortaya çıkmasına yol açtığı söylenebilir.
Die Frage, inwieweit der Staat oder der Markt die dominierende Rolle einer Volkswirtschaft einnehmen soll, ist die Frage aller Fragen, bei der sich die Geister scheiden. In der Regel haben Politiker stärkere Präferenzen für den starken Staat als Ökonomen, von denen einige darin sogar eine „Anmaßung von Wissen“ sehen, das staatliche Entscheider gar nicht haben (können). Konstitutionenökonomische Rechtfertigungen des Staates sprechen für staatliche Aktivität, steigende staatliche Budgets für eine Begrenzung derselben. Bei Vorliegen öffentlicher Güter versagt allerdings der Markt, sodass der Staat dann auch aus Sicht von Marktapologeten aktiv werden muss. Ein gutes Marktdesign hat zudem informationsökonomische Erkenntnisse zu berücksichtigen, weil ansonsten Signalling, moralische Wagnisse, adverse Selektion, Trittbrettfahren oder Drückebergerei Fehlallokationen hervorrufen. Schließlich steht jedes Gemeinwesen vor dem Problem, dass individuelle und kollektive Rationalität nicht immer miteinander harmonieren, sondern manchmal auch konfligieren.
The discipline of economics has long dominated the role of the social sciences in public policy. While this can partly be explained by the superior sophistication of economic theory, this is in itself partly the result of the tendency of economists to ignore complex variables that stand outside its own sphere. A number of policy examples are discussed, which demonstrate some of the negative consequences that have flowed from this: enduring economic geographical inequalities among cities and regions; the impact of unregulated globalization; the initial construction of the single European currency; recent labour market reforms; and the use of market analogues in public services. It will be concluded that the quality of much public policy-making in many countries would have been improved if the knowledge and insights of other social sciences had had access to policy-makers alongside economists. This would however demand a greater willingness among decision-makers to accept ambiguity and uncertainty in the advice that they receive from social scientists.
Historische Transformationsprozesse stehen bevor. Vor allem der Klimawandel, die Digitalisierung und die Globalisierung stellen Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft vor tief greifende, geradezu disruptive Veränderungen. Das Zusammenspiel von Demokratie und Marktwirtschaft bestimmt die Richtung von Wandel und Wachstum.
Radical democracy is usually fleeting. What are the possibilities for institutionalising it? If we want to understand them, we have to look carefully at the institutions and practices of local government and distance ourselves from the ideal of the nation-state, focusing instead on the possibilities of the open city. In that context, this article refers back to the work of Hannah Arendt and Robert Dahl, considering it in light of more recent contributions from Nancy Rosenblum, Andy Merrifield, Jacques Ranciere, and others.
The complexity of the U.S. income tax system emerged in part from the differentiated fiscal treatment of specific investments and various sorts of business expenditures that, as Richard Wagner says, creates “a tax code so large that no one can read it and which creates nearly a unique tax liability for each taxpayer.” While tax scholarship documents the costs of complexity, current scholarship lacks a normative legal theory that could inspire an alternative to this practice of targeted credits and deduction rules. This paper builds on Epstein’s general Simple Rules framework to develop a radical simplification of income tax: the operationalization of a uniform expense rule, i.e., the application of a single deduction scheme across all expenses and investments. With regard to the trade-off between targeted rules and this general approach, this paper investigates the nature of a uniform expense rule and reveals its strengths with respect to political economy. First, a stable and universal expense rule would narrow the scope of politicians’ ability to concentrate benefits on special-interest groups and would limit rent-seeking. The abolition of deviating rules for investments would restrict the scope of tax optimization, meaning that individual and corporate tax liabilities would be more determined by the ability to pay them. The same policy would save companies and government millions of dollars that they currently spend on tax compliance and administration of the tax system, respectively. Last, a deduction rule that applies across all businesses and industries would be less price distortive and thus would enhance the quality of the price signal.
When asked whether some people deserve more income than others, Milton Friedman responded: “I don’t think desert has anything to do with it. Desert is an impossible thing to decide. Who deserves what? Nobody deserves anything. Thank god we don’t get what we deserve!” To defend his skepticism about desert, Friedman points out that how hard people work, and how large of a productive contribution they make, is ultimately a matter of luck. We argue that Friedman’s luck challenge to desert can be resisted. In particular, it seems to us that one particular conception of desert can plausibly justify unequal pay: compensatory desert. Salaries should compensate workers for the relative reduction of welfare opportunities compared to other types of work that exist in society.
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any references for this publication.