If supermarkets were like public schools

I’ve been saying for some time that, in terms of how policies have impacted the marketplace, a useful comparison can be made between public schools and supermarkets. Thankfully, great minds seem to think alike because Nobel Prize winning economist Don Boudreaux makes the same point in a highly-eloquent manner in the Wall Street Journal.

To elaborate a bit on the point, vouchers are considered “extreme” and “free market” within the context of our socialized school system. A comparable “voucher,” known in the realm of food as a food stamp, is hardly what we’d call “free market,” but even in its flawed current form, it is far superior to total government monopoly power.