Economics in Five Lessons - Power and market don't mix

[BoyRacer]

Economics in Five Lessons - Power and market don’t mix → freenewyork.org/articles/policyr … essons.pdf

Introduction. The decline of the Western New York economy over the last 45 years is best explained by economics. Only when the people of this area understand the basic economic principles and political dynamics that explain our decline, will they support the policy changes necessary to revive that economy. This essay will outline the five lessons of economics that we believe are most important for understanding our plight and how to get out of it.

The laws of economics cannot be evaded or avoided any more than the laws of physics can be ignored. Human beings are free to engage in any action that is physically possible. Neither physics nor economics says otherwise. People are free to jump out of airplanes without parachutes, and people are free to enact minimum wage laws. We are, however, absolutely unfree when it comes to avoiding the consequences of our actions as dictated by physical or economic law. The jumper will be crushed to death by a collision with the ground which unleashes an amount of energy strictly determined by his mass and speed and the density of the ground. The minimum wage law will cause all those perceived by employers to be unable to produce sufficient gross revenue to justify their wages, not to be hired, or, worse, to be fired. It will cause unemployment. Our only options with respect to natural laws are to ignore them at our peril or study them so we can adjust our behavior accordingly and be happy.

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