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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Free Markets are Lousy Self-Promoters
“Precisely because free and innovative markets ceaselessly expand our range of opportunities, comparing the economic statistics of today with those of yesterday too often masks the improvements brought to us by markets. What appear to blinkered or incautious eyes to be market failures are often the fruits of market successes.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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Puzzles about Trade that Make Me Wonder
“What would be the public reaction if the headlines daily announced, say, the number of people who died within the past 24 hours from some virus other than COVID, and reported these daily deaths with vivid bar charts? How would the public react to increased testing of some virus other than COVID and to breathless…
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Ignore the Cooing of the Deficit Doves
“We skeptics of government power should never stop warning of the dangers of deficit financing, for such financing lowers political decision-makers’ costs of expanding government’s size and scope.” ~ Donald Boudreaux
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Protest Also Against Police Unions and Qualified Immunity
Surprising myself, I write here about the murder of George Floyd. My surprise springs from my long-held belief that I, a professional economist who now specializes in studying trade and trade policy, likely have nothing useful to add to public discussions about race relations and police misconduct. It’s not that I have no opinions about…
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The Simple Logic of Free Markets and Retaliation
“If the U.S. retaliates against Chinese industrial policy with American industrial policy, both countries end up in the box in the lower left-hand corner – for each, the worst possible outcome.” ~ Donald Boudreaux
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Financial Markets Work Without Coercion
“Coercion is sure to diminish the positive contributions that financial markets make to the larger economy. Even worse, such coercion would violate the rights of the property owners whose voluntary choices give rise to financial markets.” ~ Donald Boudreaux
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The Remarkable Blessings of the Price System
The overall arrangement of resource use is not and could never be comprehended by any individual or by any committee. That what we notice of this system are its imperfections testifies to just how well and smoothly – indeed, how magnificently – it routinely performs.
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The Magnitude of the Economic Challenge Even in Normal Times
To rely only on select and officially approved researchers, or to ignore ideas from all or even some foreigners, is to unnecessarily reduce the number of human beings working to discover from among an incalculably vast number of possible chemical arrangements the one or a few that might render the coronavirus harmless.
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Science and the Pandemic
I can think of no greater offense against a genuinely scientific attitude than to support policies – especially ones adopted in haste and in a panic, and which diminish the amount of information that is uncovered and put to good use throughout society – simply because these policies are recommended by some epidemiologists.
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Some Questions that Must Be Answered Before Adopting a Policy of Medical-Supply Self-Sufficiency
It’s very easy to declare that ‘we should be self-sufficient in medical supplies,’ but it’s not at all easy to define just what this declaration means or to grasp all that it entails.
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•
Free Markets are Lousy Self-Promoters
“Precisely because free and innovative markets ceaselessly expand our range of opportunities, comparing the economic statistics of today with those of yesterday too often masks the improvements brought to us by markets. What appear to blinkered or incautious eyes to be market failures are often the fruits of market successes.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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•
Puzzles about Trade that Make Me Wonder
“What would be the public reaction if the headlines daily announced, say, the number of people who died within the past 24 hours from some virus other than COVID, and reported these daily deaths with vivid bar charts? How would the public react to increased testing of some virus other than COVID and to breathless…
-
•
Ignore the Cooing of the Deficit Doves
“We skeptics of government power should never stop warning of the dangers of deficit financing, for such financing lowers political decision-makers’ costs of expanding government’s size and scope.” ~ Donald Boudreaux
-
•
Protest Also Against Police Unions and Qualified Immunity
Surprising myself, I write here about the murder of George Floyd. My surprise springs from my long-held belief that I, a professional economist who now specializes in studying trade and trade policy, likely have nothing useful to add to public discussions about race relations and police misconduct. It’s not that I have no opinions about…
-
•
The Simple Logic of Free Markets and Retaliation
“If the U.S. retaliates against Chinese industrial policy with American industrial policy, both countries end up in the box in the lower left-hand corner – for each, the worst possible outcome.” ~ Donald Boudreaux
-
•
Financial Markets Work Without Coercion
“Coercion is sure to diminish the positive contributions that financial markets make to the larger economy. Even worse, such coercion would violate the rights of the property owners whose voluntary choices give rise to financial markets.” ~ Donald Boudreaux
-
•
The Remarkable Blessings of the Price System
The overall arrangement of resource use is not and could never be comprehended by any individual or by any committee. That what we notice of this system are its imperfections testifies to just how well and smoothly – indeed, how magnificently – it routinely performs.
-
•
The Magnitude of the Economic Challenge Even in Normal Times
To rely only on select and officially approved researchers, or to ignore ideas from all or even some foreigners, is to unnecessarily reduce the number of human beings working to discover from among an incalculably vast number of possible chemical arrangements the one or a few that might render the coronavirus harmless.
-
•
Science and the Pandemic
I can think of no greater offense against a genuinely scientific attitude than to support policies – especially ones adopted in haste and in a panic, and which diminish the amount of information that is uncovered and put to good use throughout society – simply because these policies are recommended by some epidemiologists.
-
•
Some Questions that Must Be Answered Before Adopting a Policy of Medical-Supply Self-Sufficiency
It’s very easy to declare that ‘we should be self-sufficient in medical supplies,’ but it’s not at all easy to define just what this declaration means or to grasp all that it entails.