Donald J. Boudreaux
Associate Senior Research Fellow
Donald J. Boudreaux is a Associate Senior Research Fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research and affiliated with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; a Mercatus Center Board Member; and a professor of economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University. He is the author of the books The Essential Hayek, Globalization, Hypocrites and Half-Wits, and his articles appear in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, US News & World Report as well as numerous scholarly journals. He writes a blog called Cafe Hayek and a regular column on economics for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Boudreaux earned a PhD in economics from Auburn University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.
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Coase and Covid
“An implicit assumption undergirding the mandated NPIs is that ordering people to be confined at home and ‘socially distant’ from each other, despite the resulting massive disruption of economic and social activities, is the lowest cost means of protecting individuals from covid. But even if we grant here that mandated NPIs are an effective means…
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Material Benefits Are Not Merely Material
“Had this material wealth been produced in less abundance, the range of higher goals that ordinary Americans would today be able to pursue would be narrower. And this material wealth would indeed have been produced in less abundance had Americans been saddled with more of the tariffs, subsidies, and other government interventions for which Oren…
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Employment Options, Not Labor Unions, are the Real Source of Bargaining Power for Workers
“If America really is filled with underpaid workers, before letting politicians and pundits who express this belief put other peopleโs money where their mouths are, let them put their money where their mouths are by launching new businesses that can profitably employ todayโs underpaid workers. If these politicians and pundits are correct, they have nothing…
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Fear Is a Viral Monster
“If a large enough number of us can be convinced that an unseen, vile monster lurks in everyone else, the resulting widespread fear empowers government officials to do what government officials do best โ and what theyโve done so horribly over the past five months: destroy.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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On โYou Didnโt Build Thatโ
“Unethical redistribution occurs to the extent that the taxes an individual pays are paid without his or her consent, for such โpaymentโ implies that the value of the benefits gotten from government by this taxpayer are less than the cost this taxpayer is forced to pay. Yet these complexities do nothing to justify the claim…
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My Covid Cri de Cลur
“I cannot explain why the public reacts rationally โ that is, without much concern โ to news of famous young people testing positive for COVID but, to other news about COVID, reacts irrationally. This discrepancy itself only causes me to worry further about our ability, or willingness, to put COVID in proper perspective in order…
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Three Ways that Workers Can Be Underpaid
“The bottom line is clear: government is the largest cause of worker underpayment and open, free markets for labor are the best protection against any kind of underpayment.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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The Epistemic Value of Putting Oneโs Money Where Oneโs Mouth Is
“Assertions such as that women as a group are underpaid โ should be dismissed out of hand if (as is almost always the case) those who do the asserting refuse to risk their own time and resources on undertaking private-sector activities that would make these individuals rich as they simultaneously correct the alleged failures. If…
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Who Is Making Decisions about Our Lives
“What reason is there to trust that These People who never look past the next election โ and who always ignore consequences that are difficult to see if these consequences are spread over large numbers of individuals โ are making a prudently considered trade-off between the lockdownโs costs and its benefits?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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โข
Strata of the Unseen
“When an economist reminds you to pay attention to what is unseen, he or she counsels you to humbly understand that a modern market economy is far too complex and inescapably reliant upon trial-and-error experimentation to enable the interventionist schemes that are forever being proposed to succeed.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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โข
Coase and Covid
“An implicit assumption undergirding the mandated NPIs is that ordering people to be confined at home and ‘socially distant’ from each other, despite the resulting massive disruption of economic and social activities, is the lowest cost means of protecting individuals from covid. But even if we grant here that mandated NPIs are an effective means…
-
โข
Material Benefits Are Not Merely Material
“Had this material wealth been produced in less abundance, the range of higher goals that ordinary Americans would today be able to pursue would be narrower. And this material wealth would indeed have been produced in less abundance had Americans been saddled with more of the tariffs, subsidies, and other government interventions for which Oren…
-
โข
Employment Options, Not Labor Unions, are the Real Source of Bargaining Power for Workers
“If America really is filled with underpaid workers, before letting politicians and pundits who express this belief put other peopleโs money where their mouths are, let them put their money where their mouths are by launching new businesses that can profitably employ todayโs underpaid workers. If these politicians and pundits are correct, they have nothing…
-
โข
Fear Is a Viral Monster
“If a large enough number of us can be convinced that an unseen, vile monster lurks in everyone else, the resulting widespread fear empowers government officials to do what government officials do best โ and what theyโve done so horribly over the past five months: destroy.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
-
โข
On โYou Didnโt Build Thatโ
“Unethical redistribution occurs to the extent that the taxes an individual pays are paid without his or her consent, for such โpaymentโ implies that the value of the benefits gotten from government by this taxpayer are less than the cost this taxpayer is forced to pay. Yet these complexities do nothing to justify the claim…
-
โข
My Covid Cri de Cลur
“I cannot explain why the public reacts rationally โ that is, without much concern โ to news of famous young people testing positive for COVID but, to other news about COVID, reacts irrationally. This discrepancy itself only causes me to worry further about our ability, or willingness, to put COVID in proper perspective in order…
-
โข
Three Ways that Workers Can Be Underpaid
“The bottom line is clear: government is the largest cause of worker underpayment and open, free markets for labor are the best protection against any kind of underpayment.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
-
โข
The Epistemic Value of Putting Oneโs Money Where Oneโs Mouth Is
“Assertions such as that women as a group are underpaid โ should be dismissed out of hand if (as is almost always the case) those who do the asserting refuse to risk their own time and resources on undertaking private-sector activities that would make these individuals rich as they simultaneously correct the alleged failures. If…
-
โข
Who Is Making Decisions about Our Lives
“What reason is there to trust that These People who never look past the next election โ and who always ignore consequences that are difficult to see if these consequences are spread over large numbers of individuals โ are making a prudently considered trade-off between the lockdownโs costs and its benefits?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
-
โข
Strata of the Unseen
“When an economist reminds you to pay attention to what is unseen, he or she counsels you to humbly understand that a modern market economy is far too complex and inescapably reliant upon trial-and-error experimentation to enable the interventionist schemes that are forever being proposed to succeed.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux