[Ip-health] Patents, trade, and The Conservative Nanny State

[Dan Beeton]

CEPR Co-Director Dean Baker has just released a new book, The Conservative =
Nanny State that shows how people in power use a variety of policies - incl=
uding U.S. trade policy - to stay rich and get richer.

The book examines how U.S. trade and immigration policy places less-skilled=
 workers in direct competition with workers in developing countries, while =
protecting highly paid professionals from the same sort of competition (Cha=
pter 1), and how the use of patents and copyrights =96 government enforced =
monopolies =96 lead to large economic distortions, and incidentally also al=
low some people to get very rich (Chapter 4).

True to the book's ideas of challenging copyright monopolies, The Conservat=
ive Nanny State is available as a free e-book at http://www.conservativenan=
nystate.org/

*************************************

 From Dean's blog, http://beatthepress.blogspot.com/

The Conservative Nanny State is Here!

The moment you have all been waiting for has finally arrived. You can downl=
oad your copy of The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Gove=
rnment to Stay Rich and Get Richer today. The book is available as a free e=
-book (read chapter 4 for the reasoning). You will soon be able to order pa=
perback copies at Conservativenannystate.org.

The book takes issue with the prevailing political metaphor in U.S. politic=
s: that liberals want the government to intervene to promote fairness and e=
quity, while conservatives want to leave outcomes to the market. The book a=
rgues that conservatives (or at least those in power) support a wide range =
of government interventions that have the effect of distributing income upw=
ard. This list includes a trade and immigration policy that places less-ski=
lled workers in direct competition with workers in developing countries, wh=
ile protecting highly paid professionals from the same sort of competition.=
 Another item on the list is Federal Reserve Board policies that deliberate=
ly weaken the bargaining power of less-skilled workers in order to keep inf=
lation under control.

A third set of policies involves the use of patents and copyrights =96 gove=
rnment enforced monopolies =96 that lead to large economic distortions, and=
 incidentally also allow some people to get very rich. Even corporations th=
emselves owe their existence to the government =96 there are only individua=
ls out there in strict free market land.

The book is intended to force a rethinking of the relationship between the =
government and the economy. The current framing -- that liberals like gover=
nment and conservatives like the market -- works well for those who support=
 the economic policies of the last quarter century. Those who think that we=
 can do better need a new framework.


Dan Beeton
Center for Economic and Policy Research
1611 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
Phone: 202 293 5380 x104
Fax: 202 588 1356
E-mail: beeton@cepr.net / www.cepr.net