Most people say the key feature of capitalism is competition. Hard to argue with that characterization, but I would go one step further and say that it is one of the consequences of competition – “creative destruction” – that best captures why free markets make it possible for entrepreneurs to deliver mass prosperity.
But what’s the key feature of government? Is it waste? Dependency? Corruption?
Those are all good answers, but perhaps “unintended consequences” should be first on the list. Courtesy of Reason, here are three examples.
I’ve previously written about both ethanol subsidies and so-called employment protection legislation, two of the three examples were already familiar to me.
I wasn’t aware, however, that businesses resorted to big concrete edifices to get around Vermont’s billboard ban (though I have read, in a classic case of baptists and bootleggers, that big companies such as hotel chains sometimes try to thwart competition from small businesses by teaming up with environmentalists to ban billboards).
In the world of fiscal policy, there are many example of unintended consequences.
- Unemployment benefits producing more unemployment.
- Trying to penalize the rich, but hurting lower-income people.
- Raising tax rates but lowering tax revenue collections.
I’ll conclude by asking an open question: Can anyone give an example of a positive unintended consequence of government?
This isn’t a joke query. I assume there are a few examples, even if I can’t think of any of them.
P.S. Here’s a humorous example of an unintended consequence.
[…] Rio Tinto declaring force majeure over Richards Bay Minerals is significant – Government intervention and unintended consequences – We’ve never seen this scale of corruption, says SIU head on PPE fraud […]
[…] can be adversely affected when politicians impose laws and regulations that sound nice, but have the unintended consequence of increasing the cost of employing […]
Can’t wait for the unintended consequences of my subdivision voting to have the government collect our waste and (stuff they don’t) recycling.
Look no further than the Sequester.
Reblogged this on boudica.us.
One that comes to mind is ongoing. The lockdowns and subsequent extended duration of schools being closed finally forced a lot more parents to take personal notice of just exactly what their children were being taught…and how that teaching was being conducted. What many discovered horrified them which we are seeing in the current ‘education tea party’ we see going on. I hope they are good and both angry and frightened enough to keep up the fight for the future of their children and the nation to not be consumed by the nattering nabobs of both negativity and nihilism.
In the early ’60’s, the space race needed a docking radar for the Gemini spacecraft. The recently invented integrated circuits, by Fairchild Semiconductor and Texas Instruments, independently, circa ’59, got a huge boost in development, and this led to the solid state digital revolution from then to now. NASA had no intention to do this, it was an unforeseen consequence. Military research has also paid off in commercial products, with or without government sponsorship, especially in the aviation industry, but also in electronics in general.
Are they really “unintended”? I’m beginning to believe maybe not.
I would respectfully remark that very few times is it the law of unintended consequences – it is the law of picking winners and losers. Completely intentional.
Mr. Mitchell,
Indeed, you may find there are none.
Have a happy 4th!
Kevin
Susquehanna County, PA
Sent from my Behemoth Dell 690