by Michael Njoku
Mises.org
In the science of human action, the effects of erroneous notions of the market process, most particularly as they pertain to policy-making decisions, are not to be underestimated. The economist can not remain indifferent to these in an era in which the appeals of interventionism and government expansion increasingly hold sway in the domain of public policy. Put differently, we cannot deny how economic and social policies rooted in mistaken views of the market’s process—affect the decisions of consumers who are intent on employing the market as a means towards the satisfaction of their most urgent needs. This is of general significance given that policies, when unsuitable to chosen ends, primarily result in either or both of the following outcomes:
(a) Some groups in society becoming better-off at the expense of other groups;
(b) Some gains being obtained in the short term at the cost of greater impairment of welfare in the future.