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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The Market Loves You–And Your Little Dog, Too
“It seems pretty clear from our experience getting a dog that the market doesn’t just love us–it loves our dog, too.” ~ Art Carden
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Good Riddance to “Basic Life Skills”
“We are able to lead fuller and richer lives thanks to the global division of labor, and the “basic” life skills about which so many people fret are, it turns out, not so basic after all.” ~ Art Carden
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The Intellectual Harm of Safe Spaces
Colleges and universities (and, increasingly, high schools) are prescribing exactly the wrong kind of treatment for students confronted with ideas they don’t like.
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We Don’t Need One Big Plan to End the Lockdown
The transition back to normal life involves the coordination of the disparate and often-incompatible plans of billions of minds–and if we wish for that coordination to make the best use of knowledge in society, we are making a mistake if we are looking for a plan.
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A May Day Remembrance
In the United States, “Labor Day” is celebrated in September in part to separate it from the socialist and communist origins of May 1 as the date for International Workers’ Day.
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Good Riddance to Recycling Trucks
I was pleasantly surprised that curbside recycling has been suspended–for explicitly environmental and epidemiological reasons. Maybe curbside recycling is gone for good, which would free up resources that would then be available to expand the kinds of operations that actually help the environment.
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Pandemics and the Great Mind Fallacy
A lot of people stop listening to economists when struggle to precisely articulate and explain the “solution” in minute detail. Yet it is precisely because we cannot specify in advance precisely how ‘the market’ will address the problem that makes markets indispensable.
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If the Government Doesn’t Do It, Who Will?
Governments have been providing fire protection, police services, roads, and other public services for pretty much our entire lives. Private, volunteer companies were getting the job done — until political entrepreneurs noticed a way to obtain power and resources for themselves by taking over previously-private volunteer fire departments to create patronage jobs for political allies.
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Do Economists Believe in “Magic”? No, We Believe in Markets
The entire dismal science rests on this very, very simple insight: specialization makes our labor more productive. We could complicate this in all sorts of different ways, and that’s exactly what we do when we move from specialization to supply and demand.
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May this Crisis Shock Us Into Embracing Freedom
During a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, certain things suddenly come into sharp focus. In this case, we are overwhelmed with examples of how regulatory barriers, restrictions, and blockages have hindered the ability of society to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. In his preface to the 1982 edition of his classic Capitalism and Freedom, Milton…
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•
The Market Loves You–And Your Little Dog, Too
“It seems pretty clear from our experience getting a dog that the market doesn’t just love us–it loves our dog, too.” ~ Art Carden
-
•
Good Riddance to “Basic Life Skills”
“We are able to lead fuller and richer lives thanks to the global division of labor, and the “basic” life skills about which so many people fret are, it turns out, not so basic after all.” ~ Art Carden
-
•
The Intellectual Harm of Safe Spaces
Colleges and universities (and, increasingly, high schools) are prescribing exactly the wrong kind of treatment for students confronted with ideas they don’t like.
-
•
We Don’t Need One Big Plan to End the Lockdown
The transition back to normal life involves the coordination of the disparate and often-incompatible plans of billions of minds–and if we wish for that coordination to make the best use of knowledge in society, we are making a mistake if we are looking for a plan.
-
•
A May Day Remembrance
In the United States, “Labor Day” is celebrated in September in part to separate it from the socialist and communist origins of May 1 as the date for International Workers’ Day.
-
•
Good Riddance to Recycling Trucks
I was pleasantly surprised that curbside recycling has been suspended–for explicitly environmental and epidemiological reasons. Maybe curbside recycling is gone for good, which would free up resources that would then be available to expand the kinds of operations that actually help the environment.
-
•
Pandemics and the Great Mind Fallacy
A lot of people stop listening to economists when struggle to precisely articulate and explain the “solution” in minute detail. Yet it is precisely because we cannot specify in advance precisely how ‘the market’ will address the problem that makes markets indispensable.
-
•
If the Government Doesn’t Do It, Who Will?
Governments have been providing fire protection, police services, roads, and other public services for pretty much our entire lives. Private, volunteer companies were getting the job done — until political entrepreneurs noticed a way to obtain power and resources for themselves by taking over previously-private volunteer fire departments to create patronage jobs for political allies.
-
•
Do Economists Believe in “Magic”? No, We Believe in Markets
The entire dismal science rests on this very, very simple insight: specialization makes our labor more productive. We could complicate this in all sorts of different ways, and that’s exactly what we do when we move from specialization to supply and demand.
-
•
May this Crisis Shock Us Into Embracing Freedom
During a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, certain things suddenly come into sharp focus. In this case, we are overwhelmed with examples of how regulatory barriers, restrictions, and blockages have hindered the ability of society to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. In his preface to the 1982 edition of his classic Capitalism and Freedom, Milton…