Economic Education
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Coase and Covid: The Individualized Option
“The case, in short, for government-orchestrated NPIs is simply invalid. Why was Coase ignored and the individualized option never considered? And why will so many people continue to reject it?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux & Lyle D. Albaugh
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California’s Dreaming
“AB 2088 could break the back of the Donkey party or unleash another dangerous wave of mostly peaceful protests throughout the land. This time, though, the fatal arrogance comes not from London but Cali you-know-what fornia.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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The Empty Corona Chairs and the Spare Capacity Fallacy
“Business responses to corona have shown us that unused items – from chairs and tables to urinals – still have value; they are still in use, even when nobody seems to be occupying them. Most importantly, government spending has little ability to raise that utilization. For this age-old economic fallacy, free lunches remain elusive.” ~…
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The Myth of Voting One’s Pocketbook
“‘People vote their pocketbooks’ is a misleading and potentially insidious approximation of voter behavior. A better approximation for modern times is ‘People vote for the candidate or party that provides a better story about themselves.’ That can be problematic itself, but when we bring economic performance along for the ride the problems only multiply. Putting…
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The Sturgis Bike Rally, Sensationalist Reporting, and Broken Disease Models
“By reevaluating the methodology used to report on the Sturgis rally, Black Lives Matter protests, anti-lockdown protests, Trump rallies, and so on, we can reach some more productive conclusions. There are certain things that are so significant and the tradeoffs favorable enough that they are worth braving a pandemic, such as Woodstock.” ~ Ethan Yang
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The Great LARP
“Even more distressingly, 2020 is getting even deadlier. Violence, even murder, has increased of late, portending a potential shift from civil war games to actual civil war. And of course our civil liberties and what little fiscal and monetary discipline the federal government had left also died in 2020.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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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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The Resilience and Brilliance of the World’s Poorest: The Case of Pagpag
“The problem isn’t that the world’s poorest don’t work hard. The problem is that they work hard in societies where restrictions on economic freedom throttle growth.” ~ Art Carden
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America’s Fiscal Follies are Dangerously in the Red
“History is filled with many examples of financial and economic disaster that has followed government fiscal recklessness. It can happen even here, in America.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling
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Assar Lindbeck – Sweden’s Greatest Economist Died 90 Years Old
“Lindbeck was a great economist and public voice of economic sanity. He will be sorely missed.” ~ Joakim Book
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•
Coase and Covid: The Individualized Option
“The case, in short, for government-orchestrated NPIs is simply invalid. Why was Coase ignored and the individualized option never considered? And why will so many people continue to reject it?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux & Lyle D. Albaugh
-
•
California’s Dreaming
“AB 2088 could break the back of the Donkey party or unleash another dangerous wave of mostly peaceful protests throughout the land. This time, though, the fatal arrogance comes not from London but Cali you-know-what fornia.” ~ Robert E. Wright
-
•
The Empty Corona Chairs and the Spare Capacity Fallacy
“Business responses to corona have shown us that unused items – from chairs and tables to urinals – still have value; they are still in use, even when nobody seems to be occupying them. Most importantly, government spending has little ability to raise that utilization. For this age-old economic fallacy, free lunches remain elusive.” ~…
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•
The Myth of Voting One’s Pocketbook
“‘People vote their pocketbooks’ is a misleading and potentially insidious approximation of voter behavior. A better approximation for modern times is ‘People vote for the candidate or party that provides a better story about themselves.’ That can be problematic itself, but when we bring economic performance along for the ride the problems only multiply. Putting…
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•
The Sturgis Bike Rally, Sensationalist Reporting, and Broken Disease Models
“By reevaluating the methodology used to report on the Sturgis rally, Black Lives Matter protests, anti-lockdown protests, Trump rallies, and so on, we can reach some more productive conclusions. There are certain things that are so significant and the tradeoffs favorable enough that they are worth braving a pandemic, such as Woodstock.” ~ Ethan Yang
-
•
The Great LARP
“Even more distressingly, 2020 is getting even deadlier. Violence, even murder, has increased of late, portending a potential shift from civil war games to actual civil war. And of course our civil liberties and what little fiscal and monetary discipline the federal government had left also died in 2020.” ~ Robert E. Wright
-
•
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…
-
•
The Resilience and Brilliance of the World’s Poorest: The Case of Pagpag
“The problem isn’t that the world’s poorest don’t work hard. The problem is that they work hard in societies where restrictions on economic freedom throttle growth.” ~ Art Carden
-
•
America’s Fiscal Follies are Dangerously in the Red
“History is filled with many examples of financial and economic disaster that has followed government fiscal recklessness. It can happen even here, in America.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling
-
•
Assar Lindbeck – Sweden’s Greatest Economist Died 90 Years Old
“Lindbeck was a great economist and public voice of economic sanity. He will be sorely missed.” ~ Joakim Book