Source: Law & Liberty
by William F Shughart II
“‘Government’ and ‘efficiency’ should never appear in the same sentence, a truth that I frequently reiterate to my students. The reason is that the public sector is institutionally incapable of functioning cost-effectively. Unlike the private sector, the government does not face a profit-and-loss bottom line that incentivizes allocating the scarce resources under its control to their highest-valued uses. Politicians and bureaucrats, by and large, cannot capture any personal benefits, nor do they bear any personal costs for their budgetary profligacy and unsound policymaking because they spend other people’s (the taxpayers’) money rather than their own.” (03/21/25)