In this week’s essay, I examine some of the implications for British Toryism arising from recent local elections — extrapolating from a Telegraph column by Ed West, ‘Conservatism is doomed. Head for the hills’.
West looks at three factors affecting the decline of the Conservative party: its loss of identity, the voting pattern of its supporters, and the relationship between its MPs and the electorate. These are key ingredients of study for public choice theory, and I argue that one step in the right direction is for Toryism to return to first principles. Paraphrasing Sir Ernest Benn, a Conservative renaissance must begin with a return from detail to doctrine.
Click here for my full argument at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
27 April 2012
Electoral High-Jinks Mar Canadian Politics
A national controversy that first reared up in late February continues to simmer in Canadian politics: Revelations that, during the federal electoral campaign in May 2011, numerous constituents across the Dominion were subjected to harassing telephone calls in the late of night and directed to non-existent polling stations on election day.
These are disconcerting developments, regardless of the political parties involved and the final outcome of the ballot results. Nevertheless, for students of public choice economics, such shenanigans are unsurprising; the gains from winning high office are great, and never more so in the age of the all-encompassing Welfare State. When the possibilities for self-enrichment and aggrandising one’s friends are so tempting, is it any wonder that our political class behaves so badly?
Click here for my full argument at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
These are disconcerting developments, regardless of the political parties involved and the final outcome of the ballot results. Nevertheless, for students of public choice economics, such shenanigans are unsurprising; the gains from winning high office are great, and never more so in the age of the all-encompassing Welfare State. When the possibilities for self-enrichment and aggrandising one’s friends are so tempting, is it any wonder that our political class behaves so badly?
Click here for my full argument at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
05 March 2012
The Global Economics of Corporate Tax Cuts
With the burgeoning of the modern welfare state, taxes on corporations are widely accepted as one of the least offensive ways to raise funds to pay for them. But is this true?
Corporations — and, more accurately, their fiduciary officers — are self-interested organisations, which pass along tax burdens in the form of increased prices to consumers; where competition limits such price flexibility, costs are borne by employees or by reductions in capital accumulation.
As students of the Laffer curve theory know, too, raising taxes does not necessarily mean increased tax revenues; as the wit says, oftentimes less is more.
Moreover, in to-day’s globalised economy, nations seeking to attract businesses must compete with other countries by offering levels of taxation that are conducive for enterprises to set up shop within their borders — and to remain as satisfied tax-payers, untempted by the allure of foreign tax incentives.
Recent Canadian economic news — both in relation to arguments for higher corporation taxes and the revenue generated through lower taxes — is instructive.
Click here for my full argument at the Adam Smith Institute.
Corporations — and, more accurately, their fiduciary officers — are self-interested organisations, which pass along tax burdens in the form of increased prices to consumers; where competition limits such price flexibility, costs are borne by employees or by reductions in capital accumulation.
As students of the Laffer curve theory know, too, raising taxes does not necessarily mean increased tax revenues; as the wit says, oftentimes less is more.
Moreover, in to-day’s globalised economy, nations seeking to attract businesses must compete with other countries by offering levels of taxation that are conducive for enterprises to set up shop within their borders — and to remain as satisfied tax-payers, untempted by the allure of foreign tax incentives.
Recent Canadian economic news — both in relation to arguments for higher corporation taxes and the revenue generated through lower taxes — is instructive.
Click here for my full argument at the Adam Smith Institute.
17 February 2012
Can the GOP Defend Capitalism?
No doubt like many non-Americans, I too have been caught up in the drama — farce? — of the Republican party’s race to select a presidential candidate to face Barack Obama in November.
Many political issues are of especial concern for conservatives: limited government and fealty to the, respect for States’ and individual rights, and defence of the Republic. One of America’s more immediate (and seemingly more intractable) problems concerns its growing debt burden, a situation made worse by continuing billion-dollar deficits, high unemployment numbers, and unfunded liabilities (principally Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security).
On all of these issues, though, the Republican presidential contenders — save for one individual (with some candidates better or worse, depending on the issue) — are showing themselves woefully inadequate. Recent debate on reviving America’s economy highlights the GOP’s weakness in understanding the philosophy of capitalism, let alone crafting a pro-marketplace campaign that will resonate with voters.
Click here for my full argument at the Adam Smith Institute. (My appreciation to Sam Bowman, Director of Research.)
Many political issues are of especial concern for conservatives: limited government and fealty to the, respect for States’ and individual rights, and defence of the Republic. One of America’s more immediate (and seemingly more intractable) problems concerns its growing debt burden, a situation made worse by continuing billion-dollar deficits, high unemployment numbers, and unfunded liabilities (principally Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security).
On all of these issues, though, the Republican presidential contenders — save for one individual (with some candidates better or worse, depending on the issue) — are showing themselves woefully inadequate. Recent debate on reviving America’s economy highlights the GOP’s weakness in understanding the philosophy of capitalism, let alone crafting a pro-marketplace campaign that will resonate with voters.
Click here for my full argument at the Adam Smith Institute. (My appreciation to Sam Bowman, Director of Research.)
06 February 2012
Mapping the Dangers of Competitive Harm
Last week a Cato Institute report caught my eye, about a French commercial court awarding damages to a map-maker for losses incurred through potential customers’ use of Google Maps.
Serendipitously, at the time I was reading Richard Epstein’s Free Markets Under Siege, where he examines ‘competitive markets and compensation for competitive harms’. In the free market system, sellers compete for buyers, who base their purchases on such qualities as price and quality. If the seller can meet consumer demands, free exchange will occur; if not, consumers will go elsewhere and the seller must either improve his business model or close up shop.
Yet the practice of competitive harm means that successful businesses must compensate businesses that are unable to attract trade — a practice that, if followed to its logical conclusion, means that the dynamic free market must ultimately succumb to the deadened economics of socialism.
Click here for my full argument at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Serendipitously, at the time I was reading Richard Epstein’s Free Markets Under Siege, where he examines ‘competitive markets and compensation for competitive harms’. In the free market system, sellers compete for buyers, who base their purchases on such qualities as price and quality. If the seller can meet consumer demands, free exchange will occur; if not, consumers will go elsewhere and the seller must either improve his business model or close up shop.
Yet the practice of competitive harm means that successful businesses must compensate businesses that are unable to attract trade — a practice that, if followed to its logical conclusion, means that the dynamic free market must ultimately succumb to the deadened economics of socialism.
Click here for my full argument at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
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