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Friday, March 26, 2004

Values and Economic Policy

Listening to the last few minutes of yesterday's Hugh Hewitt as I wait for today's show streaming from KRLA's site. Hugh ran the newest Bush commercials and in them Bush talks about how his policies benefit small business. The notion that we want to benefit small business, is a social value. Seeking effeciency is a value. Seeking equity, stability, sustainability, are all values. Its only sensible for Americans to prioritize their values, and they may well pick priorities that conflict with effeciency. In terms of economies globaly, America is more concerned with effeciency than any other industrialized country. Americans may well decided that they will nibble at the edges of effeciency by prefering "mom and pop businesses" while generally favoring effeiency as our overal economic priority. In Bernetein's post referenced below, he observes that, "Much of American antitrust law for many years was based on no economic theory whatsoever." But it is based on social values, and there is no reason to prioritize economic over social interests if that is not the desire of the people.

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