more on OECD on employment protective laws

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gerry Faulhaber <gerry-faulhaber () mchsi com>
Date: April 24, 2006 11:46:52 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on OECD on employment protective laws

Wow, is Nelson's analysis on point.  Once you get past Microsoft, it  
is very hard to name a monopoly that arose through purely private  
means.  But there are lots of monopolies that were created/protected  
by government in the name of the public good (or as they say at the  
FCC, the "public convenience and necessity").  Government has  
traditionally created and protected monopolies, not suppressed them;  
they have traditionally been the problem, not the solution (pace, all  
my DC antitrust buddies).

I understand that actually consulting the facts often overturns our  
favorite conspiracy theories, and that this makes many readers  
uncomfortable.  But when you learn to confront your economic  
prejudices with real-world data, it is really quite bracing;-)

Professor Gerald Faulhaber
Business and Public Policy  Dept.
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Professor of Law
University of Pennsylvania Law School

----- Original Message ----- From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
To: <ip () v2 listbox com>
Sent: Monday, April 24, 2006 8:31 PM
Subject: [IP] more on OECD on employment protective laws


> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Russ Nelson <nelson () crynwr com>
> Date: April 24, 2006 8:10:18 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net, "'Frode Hegland'" <frode () hegland com>, Bob   
> Frankston <Bob2-19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
> Subject: RE: [IP] more on OECD on employment protective laws
>
> > From: Frode Hegland <frode () hegland com>
> > Date: April 17, 2006 11:47:03 AM EDT
> > To: dave () farber net
> > Subject: Re: [IP] OECD on employment protective laws
>
> > Within a capitalistic country regulation is need to keep large
> > companies from becoming monopolies.
>
> Do we?  Name a few monopolies.  Were they created by the marketplace
> or by governments?  Let's play a game.  You name a market monopoly,
> and I'll name a government monopoly.  Last person to name a monopoly
> wins.  If you get desperate, I'll let you name a duopoly, but you have
> to name both companies and you can only count them as one.
>
> I'll go first: Verizon (my local telephone company)
>
> Since you're going to name it sooner or later, I'll give you Microsoft
> even though it's sustained by a government monopoly (copyright), and
> even though you can walk into any Apple store and come out with a
> computer running MacOS, not Windows.
>
> My turn: National Grid (my local electric company)
>
> Your turn?
>
> > In fact, the trade imbalance with Africa is so bad that locally grown
> > produce is more expensive in many places, than US imports due to US
> > subsidies.
>
> Oh, that's a completely separate problem from monopolies.  The US
> taxpayers are giving a gift of produce to these countries.
> Unfortunately, comparative advantage is very much in their favor for
> producing produce; they aren't as good at other things.  So they have
> to do something they're bad at, while we do something we're bad at
> (but which is made cheaper by our taxpayers).  The only people this
> helps are US farmers -- at least half of whom are already wealthy and
> don't need the subsidy.
>
> > let's just discuss how to improve the outcome for more people,
> > instead of simple pro/con arguments. End rant.
>
> End US farm subsidies.  Better for US taxpayers, better for efficient
> US export companies (whose share of US dollars held by foreigners is
> being sucked away by the less efficient farmers), better for people in
> poor agricultural countries.
>
> And then end EU farm subsidies while we're at it.  Same reasoning.
>
> And if we're successful with the two of them, we have a chance at
> ending Japanese farm subsidies (and protective legislation).  Same
> reasoning.
>
> --
> --my blog is at    http://blog.russnelson.com   | A computer  
> without Python is
> Crynwr sells support for free software  | PGPok | like a CPU  
> without memory:
> 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315-323-1241       | it runs, but you   
> can't do
> Potsdam, NY 13676-3213  |     Sheepdog          | anything useful   
> with it.
>
>
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