The Hydra-Headed Beast

Pasted from Atanu Dey's deeshaa.org

The Hydra-Headed Beast
Here is the real problem with the “greed is always bad, public provision is always good” perspective. As James Buchanan pointed out in “Politics Without Romance,” it makes no sense to assume that, under some circumstances (private buses), people are greedy, and under others (government buses), people are benevolent. The fact is that in both cases people behave purposively, pursuing their own goals filtered through the incentives and costs the system presents to them. Yet, the idea persists that removing profits and using government planning results in a kind of moral transubstantiation. Many planners think that profits are evil and would prefer a system that eliminates profits, even it means accepting substantial losses and no improvement in service.
No matter how many times this notion is killed off by experience and evidence, the hydra of planning grows another head, and political leaders trumpet the new reform in public service. Then, when the reform fails, commissions are formed, implementation is blamed, and budgets are raised.
The Transantiago bus reforms took an imperfect private system, operating without public subsidy and serving well over a million people a day, and “publicized” it. The expectation, almost pathetically naïve in retrospective, was that outlawing profits and demotivating drivers would change human nature. Worse, planners believed that they could dictate choices to commuters, who turned back to private automobiles instead. Why don’t they ever learn?

Africa's 'Cocoon' Phase: Can Private Investors and Entrepreneurs Transform the Continent?

Africa's 'Cocoon' Phase: Can Private Investors and Entrepreneurs Transform the Continent?
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=2039
In the past, business in Africa behaved like a "caterpillar" -- uninteresting, slow moving and easy to step on, says Eric Kacou, managing director of OTF Group, a U.S.-based consulting firm focused on emerging economies. Today, the continent is poised for a metamorphosis that requires a "new mindset" relying less on natural resources and more on innovation and private sector growth. At the Wharton Global Alumni Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, Kacou was among the speakers on two panels exploring the potential for new business models and "smart" capital to change Africa's economy.
Visit http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=2039 for the complete story.

Experimental Entrepreneurship: Removing the 'Tin Cup Dependencies'

Experimental Entrepreneurship: Removing the 'Tin Cup Dependencies'
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1376
Although it has one of the most dynamic economies in Africa, Botswana also has one of the world's highest known rates of HIV-AIDS infection. In response, the Botswana government, along with the Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton's Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center, is helping develop a more efficient system to manage and monitor HIV/AIDS therapy. According to Ian C. MacMillan, director of the Snider Center, and James D. Thompson, associate director of Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, the Botswana project illustrates a new concept called
Visit http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1376 for the complete story.