By now the people who argue about and propose public policy really should have learned that nothing exists in a vacuum. We have this enormous, interconnected and very complex economy amounting to some $17 trillion a year in the US. And it’s simply not possible to just tweak on part of it and then see all the rest of it stay the same. Obviously, this is akin to Hayek’s concept of the planner’s conceit: that someone can be so august and knowledgeable that they can plan how the rest of us should live our lives.
An obvious little example of this is playing out now in the housing market. As a result of the housing crash, and certain less than completely and wholly legal activities after it, for a mortgage holder to be able to foreclose on a housing loan in default is rather more difficult than it used to be. There are, not surprisingly, therefore fewer mortgages being offered to people. This is causing some to hyperventilate. For example. Teresa Tritch over in the New York Times:
via Important Point; If You Restrict Foreclosures Then There Will Be Fewer Mortgages.
