Good Quotes —— Economic Explanation: Selected Papers of Steven NS Cheung (2)

Income distribution will not be equal with private property rights, nor with any other structure of rights. Equality and competition are contradictions in terms, and people will compete in any society.―――Will China Go Capitalist?

Politicians running for office promise to serve the public. Somewhere there may exist a great man who holds such lofty intentions, but I have reached the conclusion that if there is one I have not met him. Everyone I know who is running for office, no matter what is said, is as a rule self serving. Completely disinterested men simply don’t exist. If he did, then his behavior would be inconsistent with constrained maximization, and I don’t think such a homo non-sapien was ever born.―――The Curse of Democracy as an Instrument of Reform in Collapsed Communist Economies

Self serving politicians promise welfare programs to the poor to get elected, but all the while it is themselves who are getting richer. Poor people look for short term gain and they do not have a whole lot to lose; they are not naïve, but they are disposed to favour short term promises. Politicians who do so all make out. I know some “Democrats” in some Asian countries, whose incomes are up 5, 6, 10 times with the introduction of democracy.―――The Curse of Democracy as an Instrument of Reform in Collapsed Communist Economies

In a society where individuals compete for the use of scarce resources, some rules or criteria of competition must exist to resolve the conflict. These rules, known as property rights, may be established in law, in regulation, in custom or in hierarchy ranking. The structures of rights may take a variety of forms, ranging from private property rights at one extreme to common property rights at the other.―――Common Property Rights

In a communist state, there is no private owner of productive resources: each constituent is propertyless, in the literal sense of the word… [T]he rights to use resources, and to derive income therefrom, are defined in terms of rank… In the people’s communes in China under the Great Leap Forward, for example, no one owns the productive resources (i.e. everyone is propertyless), but comrades of different ranks enjoy different rights and privileges.―――Common Property Rights

Good Quotes —— Economic Explanation: Selected Papers of Steven NS Cheung (1)

In a world where more than one individual wants the same scarce resources, competition is implied. Hence, there arises among competing individuals the conflict of who gets how much of what, and it is essential to establish some rules for competition known as property rights.―――Irving Fisher and the Red Guards

Ambiguity of statement can often pass for profundity――particularly among the ignorant and naïve…[A]n idea which is not clearly stated can never be proved clearly wrong. People can be more easily indoctrinated with fuzzy than with clear statements. A people lacking widespread education will more easily succumb to vague ideas.―――Will China Go Capitalist?

Officials operating with ambiguous rules can extend their authority under the guise of obeying existing laws while actually advancing their own well-being or that of special-interest groups.―――Will China Go Capitalist?

Private property rights do not preclude the choice of the same organisational forms that operate in China. No law restrains American farmers from pooling their resources to form a people’s commune identical to those adopted in China during the Great Leap Forward… Indeed, American farmers would have chosen the commune if it could have yielded them higher real incomes. The abolition of private property rights, on the other hand, eliminates most of the institutional options available in a private-enterprise system.―――Will China Go Capitalist?

It is frequently observed that a decision maker in a communist or socialist system is not effectively censured for a wrong decision, whereas under private enterprise a mistake is self-punishing: it occasions a financial loss.―――Will China Go Capitalist?

Biologists are now beginning to produce evidence that selfishness, like skin pigmentation, is inherited and cannot be changed; indeed, it is the most vital survival trait in all animals.―――Will China Go Capitalist?