Re: Re: Re: The US Dollar (spend it fast as you can)

[Jim Devine]

Michael wrote:
>It may be that intellectual property laws may be the most effective form
>of protectionism devised so far.

except that it's not the kind of thing that's called "protectionism." It 
protects individual corporations or other property-holders, not the 
domestic markets of countries. It's an extension of "normal" property 
rights like patents, copyrights, trade marks, etc. The owners of 
"intellectual property" can easily take their property and move to another 
country.

max writes:>Michael Lind (The Next American Nation) makes the point that 
patents, IP, and professional licensure (i.e.,
tenure!) are the upper-class ("white overclass") variant of 
protectionism.Consistent free-traders should be willing to do away
with those barriers to trade as well. How do laissez faire econ profs 
justify tenure?<

professional licensure is definitely a form of protectionism as the word is 
usually used.

BTW, I used to have a colleague who wanted to reject tenure on the basis on 
laissez-faire principles. The college said: either take tenure or leave. He 
stayed, eventually ending up in the administration.

Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & http://bellarmine.lmu.edu/~JDevine