The Regulation of Private Economic Activity

📖 The Scoop

From the Introduction: The subject of this paper is the economics of government intervention in the private sector of the economy. It is not easy, however, to define the domain or class of actions that one would wish to include under that heading. A number of economists appear to believe that one should exclude from consideration such things as taxation, including tariffs on foreign goods and services; direct subsidization of firms and households; and the purchase of commodities required for the administration and provision of essential services - namely, those services that have to be provided by the state if they are to be provided at all: such as national defence, police protection and international diplomacy. In that view, intervention is limited to regulator activity proper, to the licensing of economic agents, to the enforcement of contracts, to the policing of property rights, and so on. My own view is that one should include under the heading of intervention all the purposive actions of government.

Genre: Law / Commercial / General (fancy, right?)