The Gate You Cannot See Your neighbor — a retired engineer, careful with money, reads 10-Ks for fun — wants to put $25,000 into a local brewery raising capital from friends and community members. She has analyzed the business plan. She understands the risks. She has the money to lose. Under federal securities law, the […]
Walk into any state capitol and you’ll hear the same line: occupational licensing keeps the public safe. It’s a tidy story. Before someone cuts your hair, wires your house, or diagnoses chest pain, the state has supposedly checked their skills. But watch how these laws actually get written for five minutes and the story falls […]
Walk into any statehouse debate on occupational licensing and you’ll hear the same old song: these rules are here to keep the public safe. A dentist with a drill, a cosmetologist handling chemicals, a tour guide leading a group—safety is always the headline. But watch the machinery behind the curtain for five minutes and a […]
Walk into any statehouse debate on occupational licensing and you’ll hear the same old song: these rules are here to keep the public safe. A dentist with a drill, a cosmetologist handling chemicals, a tour guide leading a group—safety is always the headline. But watch the machinery behind the curtain for five minutes and a […]
Walk through any policy debate these days and you’ll hear the same two words tossed around like confetti: market failure. The phrase has become a rhetorical trump card, a way to end arguments before they even get going. Someone says “market failure,” and the assumption is that the conversation is over. Government must step in. […]
Walk into any policy debate these days and you’ll hear the same diagnosis for almost every problem: market failure. Housing too expensive? Market failure. Insulin prices climbing? Market failure. A concert sells out in minutes? Believe it or not, someone will call that a market failure too. The term has been stretched so thin it’s […]
Walk into any policy debate these days, and it won’t take long. Someone will point to a frustrating situation—sky-high rent, expensive concert tickets, a shortage of something—and declare it a “market failure.” The phrase has become a rhetorical trump card, a way to say the free market flunked and only a new regulation, subsidy, or […]
The Market Failure Fallacy: Why We Should Stop Calling Everything a Market Failure Walk into any policy debate these days and you’ll hear “market failure” tossed around like confetti at a parade. Income inequality? Market failure. High drug prices? Market failure. Your local coffee shop closing down? Somebody, somewhere, is probably calling it a market […]
Walk into any policy debate these days and you’ll bump into the same two words propping up nearly every call for government action: market failure. The phrase has turned into a rhetorical skeleton key—one that unlocks subsidies, regulations, bailouts, and outright takeovers. But when a rainy weekend and a global pandemic both get stamped “market […]
Walk through any policy debate these days and you’ll trip over the same two words, tossed around like a trump card: market failure. Drug prices too high? Market failure. Can’t find an affordable apartment? Market failure. Your favorite coffee shop closed during the pandemic? Believe it or not, someone will call that a market failure […]