CONVERGENCES is the weblog of the Convergence Law Institute LLC, a consulting firm that characterizes itself as "a private think tank" devoted to analysis and advocacy of government policies.
The premise of our work, and of this blog, is that our many areas of interest – telecom regulation; intellectual property; knowledge as a form of capital; competition policy; globalization of markets; financial affairs (and disasters); energy; administrative law – are interconnected in ways both obvious and obscure.
Our perspective is that the institutions of property rights and free markets provide the best foundation for economic activity. Our clients are firms that share a dedication to these institutions and build their business models upon them (as opposed to models based on rent-seeking, government subsidies, and "venture socialism").
However, property rights and markets must adapt with changes in technology and societal structure. Rigid fundamentalism is seldom wise. And, it must be noted, governments have always had a crucial role in creating and shaping both property rights and markets, so any discussion that tries to draw a sharp line between "government" and "the market" is certain to be bootless, especially in a time of economic crisis. One cannot hope to make markets work without making governments work. One of our activities is to consider how to promote adaptations that will enable the institutions of property rights and markets to survive in the Darwinian struggles of the real world.
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