Political Failures

One of the failings of most introductory economics textbooks is that while they correctly assume that business people are self-interested they often implicitly assume that government employees work only for the common good.

Textbooks rightly point out how self-interest causes business people to continually seek to thwart competition through means that sometimes reduce efficiency. Textbooks, however, should devote more space to stories such as this which show how government employees often harm society when they seek to hobble their competitors:

From Fey Accompli:

"The city school district has refused to provide the state with addresses of students who are eligible for vouchers to attend private schools, an Ohio Department of Education spokesman said.

The district’s refusal has hindered efforts to contact the more than 11,500 Cincinnati students who could receive the state-funded vouchers next year, education department spokesman J.C. Benton said.

“We’re trying to implement the law with the same intent that the Legislature had when it put it into place. But we’re disappointed that … we’ve hit this roadblock,” Benton said."