28/02/2006 12:39:26 pm
Free Enterprise Could Cure Bird Flu. The bird flu virus has apparently also reached Sweden now. There are fears of a pandemic following a possible mutation of the virus and possibly a great need for vaccine.

We now see politicians and bureaucrats competing in having the state to solve this issue. There should be regulations, subsidies or state-owned vaccine production, they claim. As usual, the statists think that free enterprise - in the pharmaceutical sector - are not fit to solve the issue.

If anything, economic history teaches us that the state is unfit to plan and produce goods or services to a good price and quality and in the correct amount. The centrally planned economies provide quite a lot of evidence to that point. And we can see the great pharmaceuticals that have emerged in capitalist countries, with patent rights and private companies.

In a possible crisis, with a great demand, it is ever more essential to know that the system of free enterprise and competition is the best provider. This industry is far too regulated and state-dominated as it is, mainly concerning funding. What we need is more freedom for these companies, especially concerning prices, and less state.

That would create a situation where we would be ready, quick and flexible in a response to a possible pandemic.