Economic Education
-
•
The Washington Football Team Should Be Called The Candlemakers
“Bastiat laid bare the absurdity of so many arguments for protection, subsidy (for the stadium the Candlemakers would call home, for example), and regulation. The name would be a perfect homage to the never-ending stream of privilege-seeking supplicants filling the lobbies of Washington and looking for new ways to pick the pockets of their competitors,…
-
•
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
-
•
The Indispensability of Economics
“When we see the potential of freely interacting individuals, economic understanding becomes necessarily built on hope. Hope about innovation, mutual agreement, peace, and prosperity. When people are left to their own devices and the rulers of society are held accountable, this is what results.” ~ Ethan Yang
-
•
Masks, Seatbelts, and Peltzman Effects
“A dose of humility on the part of policy-makers and pundits regarding their abilities would be welcomed. This dose of humility might push them to consider what potentially superior ways of dealing with the outbreak exist.” ~ Vincent Geloso
-
•
The Epistemic Value of Putting One’s Money Where One’s Mouth Is
“Assertions such as that women as a group are underpaid – 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…
-
•
Free to Choose: Human Challenge Trials for Vaccines
“Libertarians believe that adults should be free to choose large risks in the pursuit of adventures like free diving, extreme skiing, and space exploration. The case is all the stronger that adults should be free to choose smaller risks in the pursuit of stopping COVID-19.” ~ Arthur M. Diamond Jr.
-
•
The Epistemic Burden of Politics
“In the pursuit of a more perfect union and better decision-making, we should begin to contemplate the epistemic limits of government. To inquire into the limits of knowledge acquisition and understanding. To what extent can those at the individual, local, state, and federal level act with an adequate understanding of the consequences of their actions…
-
•
Is ‘Capitalism’ Modern?
“Capitalism in this account is not truly modern, inasmuch as something we can describe with that word has existed repeatedly in history. It has usually come to a bad end, because of the way private wealth and fear of losing it has interacted with predatory power, but in the modern world we have avoided that.…
-
•
Adding Detail to Paul Romer’s Simplistic Plan for Reopening America
“Romer has in fact not thought this plan through very deeply, and his response to critiques seems to be that they shouldn’t do so either. His is a superficial plan that relies on magical thinking.” ~ James E. Hanley
-
•
Who Owns Leftover and Abandoned Bar Food?
“Figuring out the exact property rights isn’t worth the hassle: it’s too little and too rare to care about enforcing whatever legal right might be applicable in various jurisdictions. In practice, the ownership of leftover food is up to the social norms in the country you’re in, or even the attitude of the staff at…
-
•
The Washington Football Team Should Be Called The Candlemakers
“Bastiat laid bare the absurdity of so many arguments for protection, subsidy (for the stadium the Candlemakers would call home, for example), and regulation. The name would be a perfect homage to the never-ending stream of privilege-seeking supplicants filling the lobbies of Washington and looking for new ways to pick the pockets of their competitors,…
-
•
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
-
•
The Indispensability of Economics
“When we see the potential of freely interacting individuals, economic understanding becomes necessarily built on hope. Hope about innovation, mutual agreement, peace, and prosperity. When people are left to their own devices and the rulers of society are held accountable, this is what results.” ~ Ethan Yang
-
•
Masks, Seatbelts, and Peltzman Effects
“A dose of humility on the part of policy-makers and pundits regarding their abilities would be welcomed. This dose of humility might push them to consider what potentially superior ways of dealing with the outbreak exist.” ~ Vincent Geloso
-
•
The Epistemic Value of Putting One’s Money Where One’s Mouth Is
“Assertions such as that women as a group are underpaid – 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…
-
•
Free to Choose: Human Challenge Trials for Vaccines
“Libertarians believe that adults should be free to choose large risks in the pursuit of adventures like free diving, extreme skiing, and space exploration. The case is all the stronger that adults should be free to choose smaller risks in the pursuit of stopping COVID-19.” ~ Arthur M. Diamond Jr.
-
•
The Epistemic Burden of Politics
“In the pursuit of a more perfect union and better decision-making, we should begin to contemplate the epistemic limits of government. To inquire into the limits of knowledge acquisition and understanding. To what extent can those at the individual, local, state, and federal level act with an adequate understanding of the consequences of their actions…
-
•
Is ‘Capitalism’ Modern?
“Capitalism in this account is not truly modern, inasmuch as something we can describe with that word has existed repeatedly in history. It has usually come to a bad end, because of the way private wealth and fear of losing it has interacted with predatory power, but in the modern world we have avoided that.…
-
•
Adding Detail to Paul Romer’s Simplistic Plan for Reopening America
“Romer has in fact not thought this plan through very deeply, and his response to critiques seems to be that they shouldn’t do so either. His is a superficial plan that relies on magical thinking.” ~ James E. Hanley
-
•
Who Owns Leftover and Abandoned Bar Food?
“Figuring out the exact property rights isn’t worth the hassle: it’s too little and too rare to care about enforcing whatever legal right might be applicable in various jurisdictions. In practice, the ownership of leftover food is up to the social norms in the country you’re in, or even the attitude of the staff at…