|
|
|
|
|
Libertarian Economic ViewsThe Austrian School of economics and the Chicago School of economics are important foundations the economic system favored by modern libertarians --capitalism, where the means of production are privately owned, economic and financial decisions are made privately rather than by state control, and goods and services are exchanged in a free market. Like most mainstream economists, they accept the subjective theory of value, which says that only a buyer and seller, while using information shared and available in the marketplace, can determine how valuable goods or services are to them and thereby set a mutually agreeable price. Libertarians contend that supply and demand, as ordered by the incidence of independent, subjective valuations in a free market, are the only sensible means of establishing prices. Moreover, many economists believe that only prices rendered in a free market can synthesize and communicate the preferences and relevant, time-sensitive data to millions of consumers and producers, alike, and that any attempt to objectify these transactions by a centralized authority will fail. According to these economists, any government intervention such as regulation, trade barriers, or taxes, interfere with this judgement being reflected accurately in the price (though economists often argue that nonstate market failures can interfere with pricing in certain situations as well). Most economists agree that accurate pricing is an important part of efficient markets, and thus important for maximizing economic utility. Libertarians tend to minimize the number and magnitude of market failures they accept as legitimate, or even ignore them as irrelevant to the question of maximizing rights, and this is one source of criticism from opponents laissez-faire economics. Some libertarians would support this form of capitalism even if one could demonstrate that other economic systems are more efficient from an economic perspective, arguing that the right to property, including ownership of oneself and, by extension, in one's labor, supercedes efficiency. Other libertarians would argue that the empirical evidence demonstrates that property enforcement is necessary to the functioning of society, that various redistributionist schemes and, in particular, state ownership of the factors of production are all bound to fail, and that capitalism ultimately provides a more optimal and equitable distribution of goods to members of society. If the empirical evidence were different, these libertarians claim, their views would change. Because they oppose taxes, libertarians also oppose most programs funded by taxes, such as social welfare, arguing that government charity preempts private charity, that redistribution of wealth is theft, and that it keeps the poor from working, where they could help themselves. To the extent that some kind of welfare will exist, libertarians tend to prefer Milton Friedman's negative income tax as an alternative (but not a supplement) to the existing system, arguing that it is simpler and has fewer of the perverse incentives of "government handouts." Many libertarians oppose government run or regulated schools, hospitals, industry, agriculture, and social welfare programs. Others justify public schools on grounds of efficiency, fairness, or both, though most would prefer a school voucher sytem to the status quo. Libertarians, especially the Cato Institute have long supported Social Security privatization as a first step to dismantling Social Securityhttp://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=Oibv363p69/K9x2o/MgaxR==.
|
 |
|
| Copyright 2005-2009 OnPedia.com. All Rights Reserved |
|
|