Wall street is one of the largest recipients of government support, via cheap money from the Federal Reserve, bailouts, &c, and is in fact another example of the exact same crowding effect: government money draws bright minds away from more productive pursuits - absent government money, certainly some of those quants would be entrepreneurs or scientists instead.
> contrary to the article, not all goods are private goods
Wall street is one of the largest recipients of government support, via cheap money from the Federal Reserve, bailouts
Not something I support. Basic science is an example of a real public good. "The financial system not collapsing" was only a demagogic pseudo-public good.
No everything the often corrupt US government does is a public good but that hardly proves research is not a public good. The private sector's willingness to facilitate said corrupt government actions doesn't make me believe said private sector would produce more public benefit if a state functions were fully dismembered into it.
-- You are right in the one point, I should have said above, "contrary to the article, public research provides a public good".
> contrary to the article, not all goods are private goods
Funny that you decry my quoting you, then credit the article with claims it does not make. What economic thinker believes there are no club, common or public goods? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_goods#Terminology.2C_and...