Art Carden
Senior Fellow
Art Carden is a Senior Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is also an Associate Professor of Economics at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute.
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You Think This Is A Game? Not Quite
“Sports and gaming metaphors certainly have their place, but if we take them too seriously we get lost in details and lose sight of the greatest positive-sum game in the world: specialization and division of labor. When you’re bowling or playing a board game, there’s a winner and a loser. When you’re bargaining, however, everyone’s…
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Masters of Puppets and Men of System: Review of Mario Rizzo and Glen Whitman, Escaping Paternalism
“The men and women of the new paternalist system would do well to step away from the chess-board and to consider that ‘in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might chuse to impress upon it.’ In Escaping…
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Bryan Caplan: A Birthday Appreciation
“Bryan Caplan is a model intellectual citizen and a model scholar. Because of his influence, I am a better economist and scholar, but importantly I am also a better husband, father, and friend. If you’re looking to sharpen your mind during a time when the world seems to be going crazy, Bryan Caplan’s commentary is…
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Just Because There’s No Price Doesn’t Mean There’s No Cost: Covid-19 Vaccine Edition
“The policy response to the Covid pandemic has been a master class in government failure: governments around the world have messed up their responses time and time again. It isn’t because they are bad people, necessarily, nor is it because they are incompetent. It is because ‘The Problem’ is a set of innumerable smaller problems…
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The Best Part of Life in the 21st Century? Not Being Dead
“Is the modern world perfect for everyone? Of course it isn’t, but it’s trending in the right direction. The Covid pandemic has been a setback, but it has only delayed the day when everyone has first-world problems like a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear. That day is coming, though, and in our…
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The Dramatic Brilliance Of March Madness
“There’s a reason vasectomies spike during March Madness: David going toe-to-toe with Goliath makes for great TV, and improbable runs like George Mason’s Final Four appearance in 2006, Loyola Chicago’s Final Four run in 2018, and Villanova’s ascent from #8 seed to tournament champions in 1985 are called ‘Cinderella stories’ for a reason. People love…
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Hard Work Isn’t Enough. You Have to Work Hard on the Right Things.
“Markets make the costs and benefits very explicit, and while we see through a glass darkly by participating in the market process, it is better than seeing nothing at all. The market might be Plato’s cave, but the nonmarket alternative is not perfect light but perfect darkness.” ~ Art Carden
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Lose a Ton of Money Fast With “Hot Stock Tips”
“It warms my heart when a student or alum tells me they’ve opened a Roth IRA or when I can advise a high schooler who has been saving up so he can buy a share of Amazon stock to put the money in a mutual fund instead. Managing your money wisely isn’t especially glamorous, but…
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Concerned About Amazon Workers? Here’s How To Really Help Them
“Everyone wants to help other people—or at least, everyone should. The solution isn’t in collective bargaining, however. It’s in better options, better tools, and better ideas. So let’s have more of those.” ~ Art Carden
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That The Profit Of One Man Is The Gain Of Another
“It is not exploitation; rather, profit is a reward you earn for helping strangers in ways that waste no resources and leave them available for other strangers. Are firms earning ‘exorbitant’ profit selling natural gas and Covid vaccines? I doubt it. If anything, people scrambling to get their hands on artificially-short supplies indicates that they…
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•
You Think This Is A Game? Not Quite
“Sports and gaming metaphors certainly have their place, but if we take them too seriously we get lost in details and lose sight of the greatest positive-sum game in the world: specialization and division of labor. When you’re bowling or playing a board game, there’s a winner and a loser. When you’re bargaining, however, everyone’s…
-
•
Masters of Puppets and Men of System: Review of Mario Rizzo and Glen Whitman, Escaping Paternalism
“The men and women of the new paternalist system would do well to step away from the chess-board and to consider that ‘in the great chess-board of human society, every single piece has a principle of motion of its own, altogether different from that which the legislature might chuse to impress upon it.’ In Escaping…
-
•
Bryan Caplan: A Birthday Appreciation
“Bryan Caplan is a model intellectual citizen and a model scholar. Because of his influence, I am a better economist and scholar, but importantly I am also a better husband, father, and friend. If you’re looking to sharpen your mind during a time when the world seems to be going crazy, Bryan Caplan’s commentary is…
-
•
Just Because There’s No Price Doesn’t Mean There’s No Cost: Covid-19 Vaccine Edition
“The policy response to the Covid pandemic has been a master class in government failure: governments around the world have messed up their responses time and time again. It isn’t because they are bad people, necessarily, nor is it because they are incompetent. It is because ‘The Problem’ is a set of innumerable smaller problems…
-
•
The Best Part of Life in the 21st Century? Not Being Dead
“Is the modern world perfect for everyone? Of course it isn’t, but it’s trending in the right direction. The Covid pandemic has been a setback, but it has only delayed the day when everyone has first-world problems like a closet full of clothes with nothing to wear. That day is coming, though, and in our…
-
•
The Dramatic Brilliance Of March Madness
“There’s a reason vasectomies spike during March Madness: David going toe-to-toe with Goliath makes for great TV, and improbable runs like George Mason’s Final Four appearance in 2006, Loyola Chicago’s Final Four run in 2018, and Villanova’s ascent from #8 seed to tournament champions in 1985 are called ‘Cinderella stories’ for a reason. People love…
-
•
Hard Work Isn’t Enough. You Have to Work Hard on the Right Things.
“Markets make the costs and benefits very explicit, and while we see through a glass darkly by participating in the market process, it is better than seeing nothing at all. The market might be Plato’s cave, but the nonmarket alternative is not perfect light but perfect darkness.” ~ Art Carden
-
•
Lose a Ton of Money Fast With “Hot Stock Tips”
“It warms my heart when a student or alum tells me they’ve opened a Roth IRA or when I can advise a high schooler who has been saving up so he can buy a share of Amazon stock to put the money in a mutual fund instead. Managing your money wisely isn’t especially glamorous, but…
-
•
Concerned About Amazon Workers? Here’s How To Really Help Them
“Everyone wants to help other people—or at least, everyone should. The solution isn’t in collective bargaining, however. It’s in better options, better tools, and better ideas. So let’s have more of those.” ~ Art Carden
-
•
That The Profit Of One Man Is The Gain Of Another
“It is not exploitation; rather, profit is a reward you earn for helping strangers in ways that waste no resources and leave them available for other strangers. Are firms earning ‘exorbitant’ profit selling natural gas and Covid vaccines? I doubt it. If anything, people scrambling to get their hands on artificially-short supplies indicates that they…