Painful Birth is the astounding story of how Chile narrowly escaped becoming a Leninist/Stalinist slave state in the early 1970s and over a relatively short historic period was transformed into the near paragon of freedom and prosperity that it is today. The book not only narrates the events but also explains the economic policies, institutional transformation, and ideological change involved. Painful Birth provides an invaluable case study in economic growth, international relations, political ideologies, and Latin American development.

Painful Birth is the astounding story of how Chile narrowly escaped becoming a Leninist/Stalinist slave state in the early 1970s and over a relatively short historic period was transformed into the near paragon of freedom and prosperity that it is today. The book not only narrates the events but also explains the economic policies, institutional transformation, and ideological change involved. Painful Birth provides an invaluable case study in economic growth, international relations, political ideologies, and Latin American development.

Regulation, The Constitution, and the Economy demonstrates the constitutionally degraded and inherently dictatorial character of regulation, its ineffectiveness in curing social ills, and its use as a tool of special interests seeking personal gain in the form of money or power. Regulation became prominent in the late medieval mercantile rent seeking societies, but was little used in the United States until after the Civil War. The author demonstrates the nature of regulation as antithetical to constitutional forms of law, and an antidemocratic franchising of legitimate legislative authority to unelected persons. He provides a history of industry regulation using transportation and public utilities that belies the public interest justification for such regulation and makes its rent-seeking origins clear. The history of social regulation proves less clear, but shows the public harmed more than helped by it, as exhibited through its enormous negative effect on productivity growth and economic activity.

The Second Great Depression is over. A secret crew of young researchers led by Tom Wright, physicist, mathematician, and martial artist, struggles to invent practical teleportation and revolutionize transportation. Meanwhile, Gina Barlow, a young public-choice economist, goes to work for the California leader of the American Liberty Party, and discovers a plot by evil RepubliCrats to loot Tom's company. In the face of opposition by transport unions, political predators, orthodox scientists, environmental radicals, entrenched industry, and potential competitors, can Tom and his 'Skeleton Crew' succeed, even with the help of Gina and Aikido expert Harry Pinkerton and his men? Will Tom and Gina ever really meet? Grab something solid and hang on Before opening this book.