The seen, the unseen, and the unrealized : how regulations affect our everyday lives / Per L. Bylund.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bylund, Per L. (Per Lennart), author.

Series:

Capitalist thought: studies in philosophy, politics, and economics

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Free enterprise.

Entrepreneurship.

Commerce.

Economics.

Physical Description:

ix, 181 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Lanham : Lexington Books, [2016]

Summary:

This book illuminates the effects of regulations on people's everyday lives by working through the ripple effects of changes. It provides a fundamental understanding of the economy as an organism rather than a machine and enlightens the reader by offering a model for understanding the economy and market. Regulations, which are restrictions placed on the working of the economy, have consequences-both intended and unintended, direct and indirect. While the direct effects are well understood, the indirect effects are often overlooked because they don't fit with the machine understanding of an economy. More to the point, this book emphasizes the real effects of regulation and market change on individual actors, thereby stressing how the economy works to provide an individual with the options that exist. We draft a new definition of prosperity and well-being that focuses on the individual's access to valuable alternatives. From this point of view, the real implications of regulation are traced step by step, following the logic of exchange and the effects on individual actors rather than the economy as a whole. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 The How of the Market 1

What Constitutes the Market 4

Messy, Approximate, and in Progress 9

Recapitulating 13

Notes 14

2 The Price Is Right 15

Money 17

The Determination of Prices 19

Summing Up 24

Notes 25

3 What Prices Communicate 27

Value of the Means of Production 28

Prices of the Means of Production 31

Choosing Your Costs 36

The Invisible Hand in Production 40

Notes 44

4 Unbeatable, Imperfect Markets 47

Production: Smith, Ricardo, and Schumpeter 49

Production as Social Cooperation 60

Opportunity Cost and Optionality 68

Notes 72

5 The Seen and the Unseen 73

That Which Is Seen 76

That Which Is Not Seen 78

Destruction and Optionality 80

Note 82

6 The Market and Natural Disasters 83

Avoidance through Control 85

Responding to "Shocks" 87

Disaster 89

Disaster and Optionality 94

Summing Up 97

Notes 98

7 Taxation and Regulation 99

Effective Regulation 101

Impact of Regulation 104

Impact of Prohibition 111

Notes 114

8 Attempts to Perfect the Market 117

Impact of Subsidies 118

Improving on the Market 127

Unemployment in the Market 131

Notes 134

9 The Unrealized 135

Limitations of the Pure Market 137

The Pure Economy and the Realized 143

The Unrealized in the Regulated Economy 151

Notes 156

10 Implications for Our View of Society 157

The Sweatshop and the Unrealized 159

Implications of the Unrealized 165

The Unrealized and Policy Analysis 170

Notes 173.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Electronic version: Bylund, Per L. (Per Lennart). Seen, the unseen, and the unrealized.

ISBN:

9780739194577

0739194577

OCLC:

951506714