… is from page 221 of William Easterly’s superb 2001 book, The Elusive Quest for Growth:
Anytime the main profit opportunity in the economy is to get around government rules, not much good is going to happen in the real economy.
DBx: So true. And therefore: Because all ‘rules’ aimed at transferring income, wealth, or opportunity to some particular groups at the expense of other particular groups necessarily create incentives on the part of the harmed groups to get around these ‘rules’ – and also creates incentives for other groups to try to obtain for themselves similar special privileges from government – all such ‘rules’ reduce productive, real-economy activity.
