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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Unlike Oren Cass, F.A. Hayek Knew the Economics of Trade
Quoting F.A. Hayek’s 1960 claim that free markets will bring about a “balance … between exports and imports,” Oren Cass argues that the string of annual U.S. trade deficits over the past 44 years proves that Hayek was wrong – that history has “broken” Hayek’s “promise.” Being a non-economist, Mr. Cass can be forgiven for…
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Your Pessimism Is Ridiculously Inaccurate
The incessant drumbeat of negativity about the U.S. economy and about globalization – and the blinkered focus on problems (real and only apparent) divorced from the larger context of the economy’s successes and of Americans’ stupendous prosperity – gives us a dangerously inaccurate sense of the state of the economy and of ordinary men’s and…
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Free Trade Straw Men
Few groups of policy pundits boast as many straw men slayers as does that of protectionists. Indeed, protectionists likely hold several world records for the number and variety of straw men whom they mow down and the frequency with which they perform this mowing.
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Creativity Is the Driving Force of the Market
Creativity cannot be planned. While this observation, so stated, sounds trite, it is a fact ignored by those who call for the government to superintend commerce.
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The Bad Economics of Non-economists
It is inexcusable for people such as McCarthy to present themselves to the public as if they know the economics that they criticize with such cocksureness.
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The Market Process Is Not an Intoxicated Ass
Assertions such as those made by Cass are easy to offer. Dreamers, dirigistes, and demagogues have done so since the dawn of the industrial age.
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New and Improved Economics? Don’t Believe It
The New Yorker’s January 13th, 2020, issue features a full-page ad for Richard Robb’s new book, Willful. At the top of this ad we read in large, two-color print that “Willful is a breakthrough in economics,” and near the bottom is a blurb from Nobel-laureate economist James Heckman describing this book as “a provocative and…
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A Swollen River of Indebtedness
The first book that Nobel-laureate economist James Buchanan wrote is titled Public Principles of Public Debt. Published in 1958, at the zenith of Keynesianism’s ascendancy among economists, this book exposed the elementary Keynesian fallacy that fueled the notion that internally held government debt is no burden for domestic citizens. Unfortunately, Buchanan’s point is easy to…
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There Is No Such Creature as The People
Among the most important advances in the social sciences of the 20th century is Kenneth Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. The full explanation of this theorem first appeared in Arrow’s 1951 book, Social Choice and Individual Values. As explanations go, this one is especially beautiful in its rigor, yet highly technical and inaccessible to the general public.…
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The Case Against Oren Cass
Conservative scholar Oren Cass wants to “redefine the economic orthodoxy that guides the nation’s politics and public policy.” He’s convinced that economists wrongly discount the importance of work while naively giving pride of place to consumption. Consistent with his conviction, Cass proposes that government policies – including trade policy – pay more conscious attention to our…
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•
Unlike Oren Cass, F.A. Hayek Knew the Economics of Trade
Quoting F.A. Hayek’s 1960 claim that free markets will bring about a “balance … between exports and imports,” Oren Cass argues that the string of annual U.S. trade deficits over the past 44 years proves that Hayek was wrong – that history has “broken” Hayek’s “promise.” Being a non-economist, Mr. Cass can be forgiven for…
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•
Your Pessimism Is Ridiculously Inaccurate
The incessant drumbeat of negativity about the U.S. economy and about globalization – and the blinkered focus on problems (real and only apparent) divorced from the larger context of the economy’s successes and of Americans’ stupendous prosperity – gives us a dangerously inaccurate sense of the state of the economy and of ordinary men’s and…
-
•
Free Trade Straw Men
Few groups of policy pundits boast as many straw men slayers as does that of protectionists. Indeed, protectionists likely hold several world records for the number and variety of straw men whom they mow down and the frequency with which they perform this mowing.
-
•
Creativity Is the Driving Force of the Market
Creativity cannot be planned. While this observation, so stated, sounds trite, it is a fact ignored by those who call for the government to superintend commerce.
-
•
The Bad Economics of Non-economists
It is inexcusable for people such as McCarthy to present themselves to the public as if they know the economics that they criticize with such cocksureness.
-
•
The Market Process Is Not an Intoxicated Ass
Assertions such as those made by Cass are easy to offer. Dreamers, dirigistes, and demagogues have done so since the dawn of the industrial age.
-
•
New and Improved Economics? Don’t Believe It
The New Yorker’s January 13th, 2020, issue features a full-page ad for Richard Robb’s new book, Willful. At the top of this ad we read in large, two-color print that “Willful is a breakthrough in economics,” and near the bottom is a blurb from Nobel-laureate economist James Heckman describing this book as “a provocative and…
-
•
A Swollen River of Indebtedness
The first book that Nobel-laureate economist James Buchanan wrote is titled Public Principles of Public Debt. Published in 1958, at the zenith of Keynesianism’s ascendancy among economists, this book exposed the elementary Keynesian fallacy that fueled the notion that internally held government debt is no burden for domestic citizens. Unfortunately, Buchanan’s point is easy to…
-
•
There Is No Such Creature as The People
Among the most important advances in the social sciences of the 20th century is Kenneth Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem. The full explanation of this theorem first appeared in Arrow’s 1951 book, Social Choice and Individual Values. As explanations go, this one is especially beautiful in its rigor, yet highly technical and inaccessible to the general public.…
-
•
The Case Against Oren Cass
Conservative scholar Oren Cass wants to “redefine the economic orthodoxy that guides the nation’s politics and public policy.” He’s convinced that economists wrongly discount the importance of work while naively giving pride of place to consumption. Consistent with his conviction, Cass proposes that government policies – including trade policy – pay more conscious attention to our…