History could portend a bad omen for President-elect Donald Trump: recessions are more common under Republican presidents.

Hoover Institution fellow Ed Lazear talks about President-elect Trump's transition team's ideas for Treasury secretary as well as Lazear's ideas on keeping the Federal Reserve independent and whether the Fed should raise interest rates.

If you took Economics 101, you can probably dredge up cases of market failure in which government intervention is justified. For example, governments tax the emission of pollutants (or regulate them directly) because the cost of pollution would otherwise be borne by third parties and thus not taken into account in the balance of supply and demand. 

Industries without much competition are marked by high prices, low customer service, and a lack of innovation. But when competition thrives in a market, consumers get better goods and services at lower prices. Existing producers in the market don’t like competition, but it’s good for consumers.