Economists study various problems referred to as "market failure" - situations that, at least potentially, justify government intervention to solve them. Externalities (or "social costs") are viewed as perhaps the greatest market failure problems. The externality issue has also occasioned much...

Twenty-seven years ago I took my law-school antitrust course, from a fledgling assistant professor who had just left the Federal Trade Commission. My performance was adequate, earning one of the better grades in the course, but not spectacular. Unspectacular enough that afterwards the professor...

Why has antitrust legislation not lived up to its promise of promoting free-market competition and protecting consumers? Assessing 100 years of antitrust policy in the United States, this book shows that while the antitrust laws claim to serve the public good, they are as vulnerable to the...

The enthusiasm for the latest round of tax changes is hard to fathom. Tax "reform" has become an almost annual part of U.S. politics, as legislation is routinely bought and sold for the benefit of private rather than public interest. The 1986 episode was no different, and there is no reason to...

Economics is a matter of choice and growth, of interaction and exchange among individuals. Because property rights define the rules of these interactions and the objects of exchange, it is vital to fully understand the institutions and implications of the various property-rights regimes. With...

<DIV>Why has antitrust legislation not lived up to its promise of promoting free-market competition and protecting consumers? Assessing 100 years of antitrust policy in the United States, this book shows that while the antitrust laws claim to serve the public good, they are as vulnerable to the...</div>

The Companion lays out a comprehensive history of the field and, in five additional parts, it explores public choice contributions to the study of the origins of the state, the organization of political activity, the analysis of decision-making in non-market institutions, the examination of...