The Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the University of South Florida is a non-profit, ideologically neutral collection of scholars devoted to the analysis of social policy relevant to the Tampa Bay region, the State of Florida and the Nation. Our unifying theme is a fundamental belief that good decisions concerning social policy are grounded in a thorough understanding of economic principles.

• The relevant cost of any action is its opportunity cost - the value of the best alternative sacrificed to take the action.
  
  
• Incentives matter. People will respond to changes in the relative costs and benefits of an activity.
  
  
• Clearly defined and exclusive rights in property provide the incentive for efficient resource allocation. When property rights cannot be made exclusive, externalities result.
  
  
• Individual freedom promotes economic progress because mature individuals know better than anyone else what is best for them.
  
  
• Prices established in free markets contain valuable information and promote prosperity by aligning individual incentives with the goal of promoting social welfare.
  
  
• Voluntary exchange among informed individuals always benefits everyone involved; forced exchange seldom does. An externality is a forced exchange.
  
  
• Transaction costs hinder economic progress by raising the cost of exchanging goods.
  
  
• Political activities redistribute wealth, sometimes intentionally, but often unintentionally.
  

--Dr. Philip Porter

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