Source: EconLog
by Jon Murphy
“[T]he reason for rules is to prevent arbitrary behavior. Even when there may be cases where the rules hinder some desired outcome, where the temptation to break rules is highest, rules should be followed. Once the rules are broken, once arbitrary behavior becomes the norm, it makes planning extraordinarily difficult and ends up undermining the goals of the actions. … we are seeing exactly this now with Donald Trump’s arbitrary tariff ‘policy’ (‘policy’ is in quotes here because, since there is no consistency, it’s hard to call it policy by any reasonable sense of the word). Trump’s decrees on tariffs change day to day, sometimes even hour to hour. It’s quite impossible to predict what’s going to happen as there is no rhyme nor reason to these changes.” (04/08/25)
https://www.econlib.org/the-reason-of-rules-uncertainty-is-the-growth-killer/