OpenMarket: Business and Government

One on the main goals of the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Center for Advancing Capitalism is for more business leaders to prioritize the defense of the political environment—limited government and a market economy—that makes their own success in business possible.

​​​​​​​This review of Philip Henry Wicksteed’s 1910 textbook The Common Sense of Political Economy was originally published at Inertia Wins. Wicksteed was a leading economic writer of his day, but also an intellectual of wide-ranging interests and a Unitarian minister.

Amazon’s vice president of public policy calls for a federal price gouging law in a recent post over at Amazon’s in-house blog. This is a bad idea for several reasons. One is that there are already effective ways to reduce price gouging without regulation.

The new coronavirus—SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease COVID-19—is here to stay until either a vaccine or herd immunity limits the number of people susceptible to transmission. A vaccine is a year or more away. So why do we continue to pursue lockdowns that ensure herd immunity will never develop and the virus will continue to fester?

Should U.S. taxpayer dollars be loaned to strip clubs? What would have sounded like a joke just a few months ago is now a reality thanks to the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program. And while that may sound like an outrageous misuse of federal funds, the unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 outbreak means the situation may not be as clear cut as that.

Long before we began debating the wisdom of neoconservative foreign policy, Irving Kristol was writing about domestic economic policy and the future of capitalism. His 1978 book Two Cheers for Capitalism addresses the issues of the day and makes conservative arguments about how people will be dissatisfied with any society that delivers material prosperity but seems to lack a higher meaning.

Some CEOs seem to have more hours in the day than others. Such is the case of Karen Wright, the head of Ariel Corporation, a leading maker of natural gas compressors. Leading this successful American manufacturing company since 2001, she has carved out a role as an advocate for her industry and her convictions.

As governors begin to lift restrictions on economic activity, polling data show that Americans are generally still afraid of the virus and have changed their economic behavior. Whole sectors of the economy have had their parameters changed. This will also likely mean a change in regulations will be necessary too.

Now that government officials and business owners are planning for a “semi-normal” phase of post-quarantine reopening, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s recent “Implementing a National Return to Work Plan” letter to members outlines several legal and regulatory issues the organization believes need to be addressed by policy makers.

Launching another antitrust investigation into Amazon won’t benefit consumers. The U.S. antitrust law standard is consumer harm. To stretch antitrust investigations to include data, privacy, or protect the interests of competitors would rewrite law and introduce chaos.