Hobart Papers – serie

For over 50 years economists have argued that where private costs or benefits differ from social costs or benefits - in noise, smells, congestion, pollution of the environment - there is a 'clear case' for government intervention to correct the divergence. This argument has been used to justify almost endless intervention. However, the original analysts of social costs/benefits were led into error by failing to test their propositions against the evidence of real life. Painstaking empirical studies clearly demonstrate these errors. A divergence between private and social cost is no decisive justification for government action to correct it. The costs of intervention often outweigh the social benefits. Moreover, the alleged 'externalities' are merely uncontracted effects. Under private property rights, the use of contracts to transact what have been regarded as 'external' effects is far more common than has been commonly recognised.

Kevin Dowd explains how central banking and the monopoly issue of currency by government have politicised and greatly destabilised the banking system. The change from money backed by a commodity standard to fiat money has destroyed the mechanism by which price stability was earlier secured, and opened the way for an historically unprecedented inflation. The Bank of England and other central banks have a record of losses which is comparable to those of the worst managed nationalised trading companies. In contrast, the private issue of currency disciplines banks through competitive pressures, and there is no real danger that the currency will be debased by over-issue. Indeed the historical evidence indicates that private monetary systems, as in Scotland from 1728 to 1845, have been stable and successful. Monetary stability can be achieved through a competitive banking system. This requires complete financial deregulation, the abolition of the Bank of England, and a re-definition of the monetary standard in terms of a general commodity index.

The Net Book Agreement dates back to 1957 and was examined in the Restrictive Practices Court in 1962. The Judgement was favourable on the grounds the abolition would reduce the number of stockholding bookshops and the size of their stocks, cause book prices to rise and the number of titles published to fall. None of these arguments has withstood the test of time. The introduction of 'sale or return' conditions by publishers has reduced the risk of over-stocking by bookshops, thus enabling them, in the absence of the NBA, to introduce the practice open to other members of the retail trade of opting for a low price-high volume strategy. The authors of this Hobart Paper examine the defences of the Net Book Agreement both analytically and empirically and conclude that, whatever merit they may have had when accepted by the Restrictive Practices Court in 1962, they can no longer be maintained. Publishers therefore, operate what amounts to a cartel since book prices are geared to the 'going rate' for a mass market paperback or academic text. There is no longer a sound economic argument in favour of retaining the Net Book Agreement.

Choice, Contract, Consent, in restating liberalism, finds its rock-bottom foundations in six first principles that are either self-evident, or readily acceptable to bona fide reason. These simple, relatively undemanding principles dictate the outline of a stable political doctrine. The doctrine is strict, in that it confines the state to mandatory tasks, instead of allowing it discretionary latitude within rules. This is a loose constraint because collective choice can choose its own rules. Political doctrine informs practical politics. In politics, collective choice replace and often overrides individual choice. For this to be legitimate, it does not suffice to respect procedures, such as those demanded by democracy. Collective choice to be morally justified, needs substantive legitimacy too. Choice, Contract, Consent develops the conditions that substantive legitimacy must meet and delineates the restricted class of cases where a liberal government may pre empt the voluntary choices of its citizens.

There is still a consensus that British workers are unskilled in relation to their foreign counterparts and a considerable increase in government expenditure on training is needed if our relative economic performance is to be improved. This consensus exists even though it is difficult to find any positive correlation between the resources a country devotes to training and its rate of economic growth. State expenditure on training has risen from less than GBP1 billion in 1978 to nearly GBP3 billion by 1991 without any thought being given to the economic principles which should govern such expenditure. As a result, a large government-funded training industry has emerged, depending significantly on increased contributions from the taxpayer. If there has been a market failure in training, is it legitimate to argue that more money ought to be spent centrally? It is possible that the government is already spending too much on training or is diverting expenditure into the wrong channels. Unless there is clear evidence of the extent of market failure, we cannot judge whether the government is doing too much or too little to assist training provision.Education and training are vital to the economic prosperity of a nation but whenever government action is suggested as a remedy for market failure, the extent to which government fails should also be considered. Governments do have a powerful incentive to be seen helping the labour market at times of high unemployment but we should be sceptical of those who claim to know the labour market's training needs better than the individuals and firms involved. First published in 1992, the issues raised in this controversial publication are perennial. Shackleton's robust economic analysis of the economics of training ensure this books contemporary relevance.

In this historical survey spanning 120 years, the authors attempt to find out if there is any truth in the allegation that Britain's economic decline has been exacerbated by the failings of the banking system.

This Hobart Paper addresses one of the great economic and social problems of our time: the suboptimal allocation of resources that has arisen from the incompatible financial, fiscal and regulatory regimes for the various modes of inland transport. In order to simplify the argument, it concentrates on the movement of people, whose demand for access to satisfactions gives rise to the derived demand for mobility with with the paper is concerned. The argument rests on the assumption that such satisfactions can only be assessed subjectively and that there is no planning technique which will ensure the provision of the required mobility at a quality and price that will clear the market. Having reviewed the various 'means to mobility', the paper concludes that measures to harmonise their investment, taxation and regulatory regimes so as to create an integrated market form the basis for the only 'national transport policy' that can have either meaning or success.

CONTENTS: Introduction; What is Macro-Economics?; The Failure of Macro-Economic Policy; The failure of Macro-Economic Theory; The Classical Alternative; Implications of the Alternative Approach; Summary & Conclusions.

Statements of standard accounting practice (SSAPs) should be limited to disclosure requirements for listed companies and should not attempt to prescribe rules on measurement. There is little evidence that the growth of standards has produced any measurable benefits to the public.

The author argues that public sector policing has largely failed to prevent crime and catch offenders. Alternative solutions include the encouragement of individuals to buy more protection in the market place, and the extension of the private provision of prison.

This book puts human beings back at the heart of the economic process. It shows how this classical, human-centred tradition, stretching from Adam Smith onward, gives us a much better understanding of economic events - and what to do about them - than the mechanistic, mathematical models of too many economists and planners today.' - Eamonn Butler, The Adam Smith Institute, UK 'David Simpson writes about key economic issues with admirable lucidity. He draws deeply on experience as well as on his knowledge of economic theory.' - Asa Briggs David Simpson skilfully argues that a market economy can be best understood as a human complex system, a perspective that represents a continuation of the classical tradition in economic thought. In the classical tradition, growth rather than allocative efficiency is the principal object of enquiry, economic phenomena are recognised to be elements of processes rather than structures, and change is evolutionary. The book shows the common principles that connect the early classical school, the Austrian school and complexity theory in a single line of thought.It goes on to show how these principles can be applied to explain the characteristic features of a market economy - namely incessant change, growth, the business cycle and the market process itself - and argues that static equilibrium theory, whether neoclassical or neo-Keynesian, cannot satisfactorily account for these phenomena.

This book sets out to explain the complexity of why increased production does not that always bring with it lower prices. According to the book, those who look upon monetary expansion as a way to eradicate almost all unemployment fail to appreciate that persistent unemployment is a non-monetary or 'natural' economic condition, which no mount of monetary medicine can cure. Selgin explores the differences between these monetary and natural conditions, and proposes solutions of his own.

Dr Elaine Sternberg brings a philosopher's clarity to the debate on the nature of corporate governance. She presents a robust defence of the 'Anglo-Saxon' model, before comprehensively refuting so-called 'stakeholder theories' of corporate governance.

In Unshackling Accountants, Professor D R Myddelton of Cranfield School of Management looks at the history of and the arguments for and against detailed accounting standards. Myddelton concludes that, while there may be a case for the accounting profession to develop voluntary guidelines, the imposition of rigid standards is likely to prevent the art of accounting from evolving. Myddelton believes that the argument that more regulation and more uniformity are necessary to avoid scandals such as those at Enron and WorldCom is flawed. He argues that those scandals happened at a time when accounting practices were more regulated than ever before and in jurisdictions where practices were laid down in the greatest detail. Very often, in fact, bad practice is imposed by regulation and accounting standards.

Some would argue that the financial crash revealed failings in the discipline of economics as well as in the financial system. The main post-war approaches to economics, based on neo-classical and new- Keynesian principles and modelling, failed to anticipate the crash or the depth of the slump that followed. In this monograph, Roger Koppl, drawing on ideas from the Austrian school and the work that has been done on policy uncertainty argues that the missing ingredient in many economic theories is a proper theory of "confidence". The author is not only able to make sense of Keynes' "animal spirits", but also demonstrates how "Big Players" - often, though not always, government agencies - can undermine confidence, reduce long-term investment, increase speculation and reduce economic growth over a long period of time. From crisis to confidence not only describes the process through which the economy must go through before a full recovery after the financial crash, it also describes the journey that must be travelled by the discipline of economics.As economics students and other commentators question post-war macro-economics, Roger Koppl provides some of the answers needed to understand the long slump after the financial crash. A theory of confidence is needed in any economic framework that is to explain one of the most important periods in modern economic history.

New forms of private monies regularly hit the newspaper headlines. However, there is relatively little discussion of whether such innovations will last the pace and perform effectively the functions that we expect of money. This monograph, by one of the leading scholars in the field of private money and free banking, examines new innovations such as Bitcoin, the Liberty Dollar and e-gold. Kevin Dowd concludes that competition in this field is welcome given the lamentable history of state money which has seen its purchasing power shrink greatly over the years. However, the author also concludes that, whilst recent developments in private monetary systems are welcome and may herald a forthcoming revolution, new monies face many challenges. Some of those challenges relate to the nature of the private monies themselves. Other challenges come from law enforcement agencies that are determined to prevent competition with state money.Kevin Dowd outlines the regulatory and legal changes that will be necessary if beneficial innovation is to thrive and discusses how developments in private money are part of a more general movement amongst people who wish to reduce the role of the state in their lives. This monograph is essential reading for anybody interested in new developments in money, finance and banking.