In the United States, many of the major left-versus-right divides involve economic issues. Even issues that are not intrinsically or obvious economic bring up questions about the allocation of resources, about tax and spending policies, and about who benefits or loses due to specific government policies. The knee-jerk partisan reactions tend to be simplistic, and the underlying problems are complex. In this series, I plan to examine some of that complexity. As with my series on voting, I will structure this as a series of questions:
What are the major problems with a centrally-planned economy?
Who is allowed to participate in the economy and how?
How do we maximize economic benefits to the maximum number of people?
How should we balance short-term growth with long-term stability?
When and how should the government intervene in a market economy?
How do minimize deceptive and bad-faith business practices?
How do we prevent regulatory capture?
How do we mitigate rent-seeking?
