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Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

Does anyone know what is meant here by this wiki entry on 'economic liberalism' when they say 'resolves market failures'? Does that mean bailouts and shit?

Economic liberalism is associated with markets and

private ownership of capital assets. Economic

liberals tend to oppose government intervention and

protectionism in the market economy when it

inhibits free trade and competition, but tend to

support government intervention where it protects

property rights, opens new markets or funds market

growth, and resolves market failures.

#AskNostr

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a source familiar with the matter 1y ago

Market failure is a term in the modern economics profession

Basically you dream up some impossible situation, call it perfect, denounce the market for failure to match your perfect model, and finally call for violent intervention to fix the alleged failure without assessing whether or not the violent intervention might also be subject to failures

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a source familiar with the matter 1y ago

A common example is the alleged under-provision of "public" goods

Eg you can't defend Cincinnati from nuclear weapons while excluding the home of some random guy, so he would prefer not to pay nuclear defense taxes since he would get defended anyway, therefore you are entitled to create a monopolistic nuclear defense agency that uses violent force to compel this random guy to part with his cash

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praxeologist 1y ago

With you on bailouts and shit. Though, isn't the emergence of governments and their monopoly on violence over territories a clear example of market failure in providing private defense?

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Séimí Mac Síomón 1y ago

You've stymied me, I haven't a clue.