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tpl/economics/index.md

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+Economics
+=========
+
+Economics is a field that is just as often ridiculed, over-simplified, or most often outright ignored.
+
+Despite this economic principles underline every aspect of our world, and the general lack of understanding of this principles is the cause of many of the problems that ail mankind.
+
+In issues of economic policy often (alleged) intentions are given more importance than real consequences, and the generated incentives are ignored.
+
+Here are some of the most misunderstood and harmful economic ideas:
+
+* [Subsidies](subsidies)
+* [Minimum wage](minimum_wage)
+* [Rent controls](rent_controls)
+* Antitrust laws
+
+
+Milton Friedman
+---------------
+
+'*If an exchange between two parties is voluntary, it will not take place unless
+both believe they will benefit from it. Most economic fallacies derive from the
+neglect of this simple insight, from the tendency to assume that there is a fixe
+d pie, that one party can only gain at the expense of another.*'
+
+'*A major source of objection to a free economy is precisely that it ... gives pe
+ople what they want instead of what a particular group thinks they ought to want
+. Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freed
+om itself.*'
+
+'*One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programmes by their intentio
+ns rather than their results.*'
+
+

tpl/economics/minimum_wage.md

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+The unintended consequences of the minimum wage
+===============================================
+
+The minimum wage is one of the most persistent and pernicious economic policies, probably only surpassed in ineptitude by [rent controls](rent_controls) and [farm subsidies](subsidies).
+
+Economists have recognized for decades that minimum wage laws result primarily in increased unemployment among the most vulnerable sectors of society, specially poor unskilled teenagers of racial minorities.
+
+The amount of evidence to back this is huge, but still people refuses to accept that just because it sounds like a good idea to magically give poor workers a raise it doesn't mean that it actually works this way.
+
+Ironically the main groups that consistently lobby to raise the minimum wage are unions of skilled workers that already earn much more than the minimum wage, and big business in the retail market who offer salaries slightly above the minimum wage.
+
+This unholy union of unions and big business can be explained if one looks at the real consequences of raising the minimum wage: unskilled workers that might be able to compete with unionized workers thanks to their lower salary are put out of work safewarding the jobs of the well off unionized workers. At the same time small retail business that have very small margins are driven into bankruptcy by big corporations that take advantage of economies of scale and can afford to pay their workers salaries slightly above the minimum wage.
+
+
+Alternatives
+------------
+
+If our goals is to improve the economic situation of disadvantaged workers probably the best known strategy is a negative income tax, this doesn't create negative incentives and preserves the existing positive incentives, it doesn't directly increase unemployment or hurt small business.
+
+
+Links
+-----
+* [50 Years of Research on the Minimum Wage](http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/50years.htm)
+* [Minimum Wage Teen-age Job Killer](http://www.ncpa.org/ba/ba292.html)
+* [Santa Fe’s Living Wage and the Labor Market](http://www.epionline.org/study_detail.cfm?sid=90)
+* [Spinimum Wage](http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=101606B)
+* [Minimum Wage = Bureaucracy = Disaster](http://unbeknownst.net/?p=71)
+* [Minimum Wage, Maximum Stupidity](http://www.larryelder.com/economics/minimumwage.htm)
+* [The Sin of Wages: The real reason to oppose the minimum wage](http://www.slate.com/id/2103486/)

tpl/economics/rent_controls.md

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+Rent controls
+=============
+
+"*Rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.*" --  Assar Lindbeck Swedish socialist economist
+
+Links
+-----
+
+* [Rent Control](http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/RentControl.html) entry in the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

tpl/economics/subsidies.md

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+Subsidies considered harmful
+============================
+
+Farm subsidies are one of the most inept and outright evil economic policies ever invented, trillions of dollars are wasted every year in the world because of farm subsidies in developed countries, while driving into bankruptcy millions of farmers in third world countries.
+
+Millions of tons of food are thrown away because of the ridiculously stupid farm policy of the US and Europe while millions die of starvation.
+
+Links
+-----
+* [In 1985 New Zealand eliminated agricultural subsidies. What happened next?](http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=050907B)
+* [Freeing the Farm: A Farm Bill for All Americans](http://reddit.com/goto?id=1lopk)
+* [farmsubsidy.org](http://farmsubsidy.org)
+* [So that's where the €100 billion went](http://www.guardian.co.uk/eu/story/0,,1995587,00.html)
+* [http://www.heritage.org/Research/Agriculture/BG1542.cfm](http://www.heritage.org/Research/Agriculture/BG1542.cfm)
+* [New Zealand's hardy farm spirit: how ending subsidies created a farming revolution](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3747430.stm)
+* [Farming without subsidies? Some lessons from New Zealand](http://www.newfarm.org/features/0303/newzealand_subsidies.shtml)
+
+