Cowboy Confessional

I came across a quote by an economist named R. T. Naylor. I can’t vouch for anything Naylor has written though his book titles are entertaining (Wages Of Crime, Hot Money and the Politics of Debt and Patriots and Profiteers: On Economic Warfare).

The quote that caught my attention was “… never in history has there been a black market defeated from the supply side.” His claim is that it must be impossible to eliminate the supply of something if there is demand. I don’t know if “never” is an appropriate adverb, but I am incapable of finding evidence to the contrary.

Some examples:

• * Alcohol prohibition in the 1920’s generated a huge black market and vast criminal enterprises to supply the booze.
• * The drug wars of the 20th century generated a huge black market and vast criminal enterprises to supply the dope.
• * Gun control laws generated a huge black market and vast criminal enterprises to supply the firepower.
• * Controls on money influencing politics has generated a huge black market and vast commercial enterprises to supply the cash.

For policy wonks and other people with too much time to kill, this creates an important and rather libertarian conclusion: attempts to restrict supply will inevitably exacerbate the original problem. Sure, a few heads were ingesting new and exotic drugs in the 1960’s but every attempt to make drug use illegal stoked its mystique. Banning booze led Ma and Pa to become moonshiners while Lil Sis became a flapper in a speakeasy. Attempts to eliminate private firearm ownership have led to a more aggressive brand of street thug. And this election cycle is breaking all records for campaign cash from lobbyist.

Legislators and other disreputable sorts should head history, though they rarely do.

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