Here is a thought experiment: If emergent/spontaneous order created a demand for a performing arts center then a private sector supply would appear.
If the demand by the few, by the politico and their ilk, created a demand for a performing arts center then a taxpayer funded supply would appear.
If a private supply appeared all the financing/funding, construction, risk/uncertainty and on going expense is borne by the private sector.
If a public supply appeared all the financing/funding, construction, risk/uncertainty and on going expense is borne, not by the public sector, rather it is borne by current and future taxpayers.
Private enterprise is financed privately. Public enterprise is funded by tax.
If a private supply fails, then the price of failure falls on the owners, managers, employees and suppliers of the private enterprise.
If a public supply fails, the few, the politico, pays no direct price for failure other than non-reelection while the price of failure falls directly on current and future taxpayers.
When a notional proposition is put forward by the few, for the benefit of the few, political economy identifies the phenomena as a “scheme”. Stated alternatively, rather than being the product of the many through spontaneous/emergent order, it is an artificial product of the few. It is also known within political economy as “unicorn governance”. How so? The scheme’s basic formula is: A + B x (a magical moment occurs) = result X.
The inefficiency of political control of an economy has been demonstrated more often, in more places, and under more varied conditions, than almost anything outside the realm of pure science. - page 166, Thomas Sowell’s 1999 book, The Quest for Cosmic Justice
