Trade-Offs

As was once stated by economist Thomas Sowell:

"There are no solutions, only trade-offs that leave many desires unfulfilled and much unhappiness in the world; It is imperative to have the right processes for making trade-offs and correcting inevitable errors; and it is better to cope incrementally with tragic dilemmas than to proceed categorically with moral imperatives -- for amelioration of evils and for progress it is generally preferable to rely on systemic characteristics of social processes ... rather than solutions proposed by government officials."


(Photo Credit: Hoover.org)


  There are a couple things one should draw from the quote.

1. No matter what "solution" you propose for a problem, it will create other problems that will need their own "solutions." Deciding what should be done is a matter of granting weight to the problems that go away and the new problems that form and thereby determining which decisions grant the highest net utility to society.

2. If society's means of making trade-offs lies solely with the decisions of a few bureaucrats and politicians, it will find that the rate of making good trade-offs is subpar.

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When I declare myself as an anarcho-capitalist-- being in favor of the elimination of all government so the private sector can take over those roles it used to perform-- it is not because I fail to recognize the problems associated with it. I fully understand the free-loader problem and the issues associated with externalities and public goods. I recognize where the private sector can struggle in terms of providing a national defense. I propose and advocate for this system because I think the problems it solves are greater than those it creates, more so than can be accomplished by any system of government.

Perhaps the greatest advantage above, say, a minimalist form of government is the removal of risk for the government to grow, as governments do, and engulf individual freedoms in doing so.

It just so happens that by eliminating government officials and political corruption, one also eliminates lousy "solutions" put forward by the public sector that end up being worse than the problems they "solve."