INTRODUCTION

摘要

This issue begins with an attack by Ryan Bourne on the misuse of the concept of 'market failure' to justify ever-growing government intervention in the economy. He argues that textbook comparisons between market outcomes and an unattainable and unidentifiable ideal is inappropriate in a world characterised by imperfect knowledge and frequent government failure. It is better to compare market solutions with realistic alternatives. The regulatory policy of what Hayek called 'ordered competition' in European telecoms has protected the status quo, impeded the efficiency of the market process and allowed excessive public subsidy, say Dmitrii Trubnikov and Ekaterina Trubnikova. They make a case for structural reform of the sector.