Nerd Analysis: Mankiw on Government Power and Private Competition

Not all Harvard faculty are nuts! Econ prof Greg Mankiw is not nuts, andhere is more proof why not. Take a look, please:

I tend to distrust power unchecked by competition. This makes me particularly suspicious of federal policies that take a strong role in directing private decisions.

. . . This philosophical inclination most likely influences my views of the healthcare debate. The more power a centralized government authority asserts, the more worried I am that the power will be misused either purposefully or, more likely, because of some well-intentioned but mistaken social theory. I prefer reforms that set up rules of the game but end up with power over key decisions as decentralized as possible.

Read the whole thing. More of this, please.

Note what Professor Mankiw says about social engineering too!