Improving Economists' Lives
27 June 2006
Editor, The Washington Times
Dear Editor:
Ben Lieberman rightly praises the FTC for opposing price controls on gasoline ("Is anti-gouging anti-consumer?" June 27). But he overlooks one benefit of such controls: easier lives for us economics professors.
Teaching about the role of market prices is tough work, and it's a lot tougher now that students haven't experienced the 1970s' long lines at gasoline stations. Such waiting lines reveal to students the bizarre and harmful consequences of government's visible foot - thus enabling them better to appreciate the beauty and benefits of the market's invisible hand.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Washington Times
Dear Editor:
Ben Lieberman rightly praises the FTC for opposing price controls on gasoline ("Is anti-gouging anti-consumer?" June 27). But he overlooks one benefit of such controls: easier lives for us economics professors.
Teaching about the role of market prices is tough work, and it's a lot tougher now that students haven't experienced the 1970s' long lines at gasoline stations. Such waiting lines reveal to students the bizarre and harmful consequences of government's visible foot - thus enabling them better to appreciate the beauty and benefits of the market's invisible hand.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Tuesday April 3, 2007 at 1:09pm