Nov 3, 2019 • 52M

Mike Munger is Taking Public Choice Seriously

 
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Bob Zadek
Bob talks about the issues that affect our lives on a daily basis from a purely libertarian standpoint. He believes in small government, fewer taxes, and greater personal freedom.<br /><br />America has lost its way, but it cannot and does not need to be reinvented. Our founders were correct about their approach to government, as were John Locke, Adam Smith and the other great political philosophers who influenced them. The country’s first principles are economic and social freedom, republicanism, the rule of law, and liberty. Bob believes we must take the best of our founding principles and work from them because a country without principles is just a landmass.
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Mike Munger is taking Public Choice seriously.

How seriously?

So seriously that his new book calls many of the sacred cows of the free market crowd into question – asking whether real capitalism is even a stable equilibrium, or if it always morphs into its ugly twin: cronyism.

While public choice is best known for its analysis of the rational, self-interested behavior of so-called “public servants”, Munger steps back and asks when the rational interest of CEOs and corporate boards might also betray free market principles. In other words, does competitive rent-seeking becomes the norm in a world where executives are expected to get the sweetest deal possible from the government?

Is Capitalism Sustainable? is a collection of essays published by the American Institute for Economic Research that will provoke central planners and free-marketeers alike to consider how real-world frictions, ethical norms, and those pesky transaction costs muddy the waters of pure economic theory.

Find out what violations of norms provoked not one, but two old German women, to publicly shame Munger while he was living abroad… and what this has to be with the study of economics and political science.

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