This issue of The Freeman explores the social function of profits, the power of incentives in shaping human behavior, and the misconceptions behind “trickle-down economics.” It examines how mergers reflect market processes rather than corporate excess, why statutory regulation fails to manage dynamic economic activity, and how Chile’s market reforms coexist with political repression. Additional essays critique welfare-state logic through classroom analogies and trace Progressivism’s enduring influence into the 1980s. The issue concludes with reviews of works on California’s political economy and related public-policy themes.
