Dwight R. Lee: Incentives, Public Choice and the Role of Government

Estefanía Campos  | 11 de junio de 2018  | Vistas: 101

Dwight R. Lee has a long academic career in which he has made great contributions to the understanding of economics and liberalism through his research and publications defending liberty. In this interview, Ramón Parellada talks with professor Lee on how he got interested in economics and had an early shift from keynesianism to liberalism, also about incentives, public choice and the role of government.

Economics is all about incentives, is about people respond in predictable ways to incentives, but a lot of people don’t think about that and they think a lot of things are done by good intentions“.

Later he describes what he thinks should be the role of government and talks about the environmentalist research he has done and the need for a market that incentivizes people to take care of it and reduce pollution.

The environment is a benefit, that isn’t free.”

Finally he emphasizes on the importance of freedom and responsibility in society, that have to be accompanied with incentives, which are effectively provided by markets.