Suppose there is a group of 20 children in the class, and they all like apples. Would you rather….a) give one apple to each of the 20 childrenb) give three apples to a random 10 of the children, and nothing to the other 10Which do you choose? Option (a) looks fairer, because each child gets the same. Yet each child only gets one apple. 20 apples in all. Option (b) looks less fair, because the… Read More »Apples
It would be nice if guaranteeing equality of outcomes could lead to a happier society, but it’s never going to happen. Communism is generally considered to be a political and economic system which is characterised by common ownership of the means of production and free access to the articles of consumption. It purports to be classless, stateless, and without money. Common ownership implies a planned economy, for it must exclude private trading and market determination… Read More »Why Communism must be Coercive
French economist Frédéric Bastiat, in his 1850 essay “The Balance of Trade” (#13 in “Selected Essays on Political Economy” attempts to debunk the mercantilist view of François Mauguin who prefers that their nation of France exports more than it imports. However, once we unpack the clever packaging of Bastiat’s narrative, we find that he gives support to the ideas he aimed to dismantle. Bastiat recounts the tale of two business transactions: wine from Bordeaux to… Read More »Is Bastiat a Englishman?