Market Correction

2 June 2006

Editor, The Christian Science Monitor

Dear Editor:

Jeffrey Shaffer asserts that growing population inevitably threatens to lower individual living standards ("Overcrowding at the gas pump," June 2). Baloney.

Are Americans today poorer than we were, say, in 1800? According to Mr. Shaffer's logic, we should be. Back then U.S. population was 5.2 million; today it's 57 times larger at nearly 300 million. And the world's population now is more than six times larger. Yet, of course, our standard of living - along with that of everyone living in open, market societies - is today inexpressibly higher. The reason is that free markets ensure that, for all that we consume, we produce even more.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

31 May 2006

Editor, The New York Post

Dear Editor:

Sen. Hillary Clinton is correct: a national speed limit of 55 mph will force Americans to consume less oil. But it will also force us to spend more time in our cars rather than at our destinations.

Given Sen. Clinton's concern that, as she says on her website, "Today's families are often stretched thin... trying to carve out time for their young children and aging relatives,"* surely she should think twice before concluding that the oil we'll save by driving more slowly is more precious than the time we'll waste by doing so.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics

* http://clinton.senate.gov/issues/children/
George Mason University

30 May 2006

Editor, The Boston Globe

Dear Editor:

Yolanda Ostolaza justifies raising the minimum wage by saying that "studies have shown that a higher minimum wage does not cost jobs" (Letters, May 30). Indeed so - just as studies have shown that tobacco use poses no health risks and that the fossil record disproves the theory of natural selection.

The overwhelming majority of studies of the effects of minimum-wage legislation find that such legislation harms low-skilled workers, not only by eliminating jobs for many of these workers, but also by reducing their access to on-the-job training and fringe benefits and by promoting discrimination in hiring and firing.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

27 May 2006

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

Dear Editor:

Not only a successful politician, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert is also an entrepreneurial mastermind. He knows (he says) that consumers will eagerly pay for more fuel-efficient automobiles (Letters, May 27). His entrepreneurial vision is singularly impressive in light of the fact that this consumer demand, this profit opportunity, is ignored by each of the 20-plus automakers now producing cars for the American market - ignored so consistently that Rep. Boehlert and his colleagues must mandate higher automobile fuel-efficiency standards to force auto makers to better meet their customers' demands.

We Americans should be grateful that our leaders possess such acumen as well as willingness to intervene in private affairs. Otherwise, we'd be left to take responsibility for ourselves, unprotected by the god-like wisdom of Renaissance (Congress)men such as Rep. Boehlert.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University

25 May 2006

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

Dear Editor:

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka says that an undervalued yuan increases both America's current-account deficit with China AND "the flood of investments by U.S and other multinational companies" into China (Letters, May 25).

This allegation reveals Mr. Trumka's colossal misunderstanding of international-trade concepts. America's current-account deficit with China grows as the volume of Chinese investments in America increases relative to the volume of American investments in China. How can the price of the yuan (or anything else!) cause Americans to invest less in China and more in China simultaneously?

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University