I’ve written a fair bit about philosophy and the ideological side of politics, but I don’t think I’ve written as much about economics. I’m really interested in economics, have done a fair bit of reading and studying of it, and I think it’s extremely valuable and important. I’m by no means an expert. My interests are less academic or nitty gritty and more big picture, speculative, practical.
I think I want to explore my thoughts on economics a bit more. Here are some of the directions I might take my writing in the coming weeks, listed in no particular order. Some of these I’ve given much more thought to than others. This is by no means an exhaustive list of my economic convictions, just a collection of some of the things I’ve thought about in recent years. My plan will be to expand on some of these points in future posts.
-I’m against price floors and price ceilings and Soviet-style price controls. I say that first because most of the other things I’m going to say will probably sound a bit more economically progressive.
-Similarly, I’m against central planning and think the spontaneous market is a powerful tool that should be used to greatest effect. However, I think intelligent governmental influence in the market, through things like taxation, is not just allowable but invaluable to the life of the community.
-I think businesses should be as small as possible — little money, little land, few people, little geographical reach. Sometimes, rarely, it’s impossible to do a particular task without giving it to a massive corporation, but whenever we can I think we should maximize competition by having many many small suppliers, rather than a few big ones.
-I’m not against people getting rich within a system that allows for it, but I suspect that to the extent that the system lets you get super rich while others are impoverished, or to the degree that you can have an outsized political influence thanks to wealth, the system is probably in need of fixing.
My list has gotten so long that I think I will turn the list itself into a series of three or four posts. That will also give me more time to think about it and try to avoid forgetting any important points. Come back on Monday for part two!