Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Overcoming Bias Commenter's avatar

There have been many expansions of economic freedom throughout history, some (though certainly not all) pushed by governments: - Abolition of slavery - Lending money for interest is expressly allowed (as opposed to in many places during the Middle Ages) - Free trade agreements - A long-term historical trend towards less government corruption - Improved law enforcement, resulting in protection from theft and extortion - Breaking down of caste systems in traditional societies - Depending on your point of view, intellectual property law could be construed as either increasing or decreasing economic freedom - Greater freedom of movement than existed in most places a few centuries ago

And then of course technology has massively increased realized economic freedom regardless of which direction governments push it.

Expand full comment
Dermot Harnett's avatar

"Any process that ignorant voters could use to decide who to trust on [banking] regulations could also be used by ignorant consumers to decide which banks to patronize."

What? Banks and politicians are two fundamentally different kinds of entities. Different kinds of processes may be available to investigate the two. This is a fantastically sweeping statement, made as if it were simple fact.

Expand full comment
19 more comments...

No posts