The so-called ratchet effect, described most comprehensively by Robert Higgs, is the phenomenon of rapid government growth in the face of crises, followed by a lack of its proportional reduction in the post-crisis stage. Hitherto investigated primarily through the lens of historical analysis, it also opens broad — and probably still largely unexplored — opportunities for praxeological research. By reflecting on the past century and the beginnings of the present one, one immediately notices that creating occasions for "ratcheting up" the size of the government was a (perhaps unintended) gift bestowed by some political factions upon other political factions — … Continue reading The Ratchet Effect and the Future of Liberty