This casual empiricism is not settling much. Consider that Mexico enjoys lower tax rates than the U.S.A., yet millions of its people jump through hoops to enter the U.S.A. Consider that Alabama, Mississippi, and New Mexico have about the lowest level of state and local taxes in the U.S.A., along with about the lowest wage rates. Consider, too, there are different kinds of taxes, some of which oppress enterprise and some of which stimulate it (remember Henry George?). There are different kinds of regulations, and public services, some useful and some baneful. Let's move to a higher level of sophistication, please! In the process, please deconstruct "Hayekian" before using it any more: it has many dimensions depending on the context. Mason Gaffney