Tweet [1]
Kai Weiss eloquently exposes the fatal conceit of Mary Eberstadt, J.D. Vance, and other “national conservatives. [3]” A slice:
As Steven Horwitz writes [4] in another reply to Vance over at EconLib, simply because Vance thinks government should solve all of the crises he has diagnosed, does not mean it would be successful in it. In fact, the state in all likelihood will fail (think of public choice economics [5], false economic premises [6] when it comes to protectionism, or that whole cronyism thing as just a few examples why). Instead, national conservatives “will likely exacerbate the very social ills they hope to remedy.”
And here’s John Hood on nationalist conservatives [7]. (HT Arnold Kling [8])
Mike Munger clearly explains what should be – but what clearly isn’t – obvious: employment is not created by outlawing employment [9]. The background is California’s insistence on stripping drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft of their contractual rights. A slice:
The real comparison is not between the current situation of exploited contractors and “good jobs with benefits”; the real comparison is the current situation of an effective and highly flexible system for making more efficient use of excess capacity through commodification via app-based business, and no jobs at all.
Sadly, Trump is not alone in utterly failing to understand international trade [10]. See also Eric Boehm [11].
Ryan Bourne reveals the reality behind rent-control – the reality being that reality isn’t optional [12].
Mark Perry unpacks the numbers on income inequality [13].