View the PDF here: https://en.llri.lt/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Policy%20Handbook.%20Government%20Against%20Scarcity.pdf

In public discussions economic arguments are often accused of disregarding justice, ignoring morality, or reflecting simple insensitivity. Few people have doubts that the free market advances material well-being. However, the distribution of goods through market processes is considered unfair, and the principle of profit maximization is seen to be at odds with moral values. Economic behavior is considered to be one of the main causes of moral and cultural crises. Increasingly, the blame is put on freedom.

The advocates of freedom are called to take a fresh look at how freedom, economy and morality relate to each other. This handbook on public policy is intended to enrich free-market arguments with moral and cultural insights in areas where government interventions are increasingly crowding out voluntary decisions: labor relations, money, consumption habits, and social support. It offers a new approach to understanding these interrelations by unfolding the concept of scarcity and the role it plays in the order of being and human life. An accurate understanding of scarcity points to a simple fact that the only alternative to peaceful cooperation is coercion in its various forms, such as theft, plunder, and war. Through the concept of scarcity, this handbook offers a new perspective on – and assessment of­how human relations and values change when the government assumes responsibility for dealing with scarcity. Moral and cultural arguments are formulated in a descriptive manner.

This handbook is intended for intellectual entrepreneurs, politicians, and public opinion leaders who want to better understand the regularities that determine voluntary human action and human action under government intervention. It shows how government regulation distorts the natural relation between humans and the order of being: how it changes behavior, personal and social relationships, erodes morality, and diminishes culture. The paradigm that underlies this assessment may be applied across policy areas.