History
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Did Market Failures Require A Lockdown Response?
“Economists and policymakers must ask the question: what are people actually doing in the status quo to manage the harm? We may find that what, on its face, appears to be a failure is actually preferable to the reasonable and feasible alternatives.” ~ Jon Murphy
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Business Should Fight Back Against Controls
“The full spirit and many of the practical steps that Manne recommended to business people nearly 50 years ago as rational responses to the unwarranted hysteria over fuel shortages apply today to the unwarranted hysteria over Covid-19. Today, I recommend such resistance, and not only by business people, but by all individuals.” ~ Donald J.…
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Robert Higgs: A Birthday Appreciation
“Higgs’s virtuosity as an economic historian stems from clear and careful analytical thinking combined with an understanding of what the state is and what the state is not. He is not a romantic about war and the state, to put it lightly, and he has never shied away from calling a government exactly what it…
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No More Wartime Presidents
“Americans need a peacetime president, one who will promote public policies that respect individuals, their freely-made choices, and their property rights, allowing them to run their own lives in peace.” ~ David S. D’Amato
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Thomas Sowell — Intellectual Maverick at Work
“Watching this documentary on Sowell, I am once more struck on how many fruitful research questions can be raised by pursuing the hypotheses he raises in his works. I also respect the clarity of his voice, and the clarity of his purpose.” ~ Peter J. Boettke
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Tales of the Crypt
“Best of all, nobody was forced to subsidize others. They gave to charity, joined with like-minded people, or sought profit. The system wasn’t perfect — nothing is — but it was a far cry better than taxing people to support inefficient, uniform government educational and welfare programs.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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In the Asian Flu of 1957-58, They Rejected Lockdowns
“Lockdowns were ruled out in the past precisely so that the damage of a pandemic would be minimized and we could get through it more quickly. This was the science. This was the science all the way through the spring of 2020, when everything changed. Suddenly the “science” favored forgetting everything we’ve learned from the…
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Catastrophe Is All Around Us
“After two weeks, there was still time to undo major parts of the damage of lockdowns. After 10 months, not so much. There will be loss of life for many years to come plus population-wide psychological, social, and economic damage. The catastrophe has not been averted. It is far worse than any of us could…
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Carl Menger and the Sesquicentennial Founding of the Austrian School
“Carl Menger remains a towering figure, not only for the development of his variation on the ‘marginalist’ theme, but for originating a still unique and distinct and highly relevant approach to economic and social analysis that still rightly bears the name, the ‘Austrian School.'” ~ Richard M. Ebeling
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Ronald Coase: A Birthday Appreciation
“Like Adam Smith before him, Ronald Coase remains highly cited but still underrated. His ideas on transaction costs, rules, and organizations were influential, but as I wrote when he passed in 2013, ‘a few minutes with the ‘externalities’ section of almost any principles book, or a few seconds watching and listening to TV and radio…
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Did Market Failures Require A Lockdown Response?
“Economists and policymakers must ask the question: what are people actually doing in the status quo to manage the harm? We may find that what, on its face, appears to be a failure is actually preferable to the reasonable and feasible alternatives.” ~ Jon Murphy
-
•
Business Should Fight Back Against Controls
“The full spirit and many of the practical steps that Manne recommended to business people nearly 50 years ago as rational responses to the unwarranted hysteria over fuel shortages apply today to the unwarranted hysteria over Covid-19. Today, I recommend such resistance, and not only by business people, but by all individuals.” ~ Donald J.…
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•
Robert Higgs: A Birthday Appreciation
“Higgs’s virtuosity as an economic historian stems from clear and careful analytical thinking combined with an understanding of what the state is and what the state is not. He is not a romantic about war and the state, to put it lightly, and he has never shied away from calling a government exactly what it…
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•
No More Wartime Presidents
“Americans need a peacetime president, one who will promote public policies that respect individuals, their freely-made choices, and their property rights, allowing them to run their own lives in peace.” ~ David S. D’Amato
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•
Thomas Sowell — Intellectual Maverick at Work
“Watching this documentary on Sowell, I am once more struck on how many fruitful research questions can be raised by pursuing the hypotheses he raises in his works. I also respect the clarity of his voice, and the clarity of his purpose.” ~ Peter J. Boettke
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•
Tales of the Crypt
“Best of all, nobody was forced to subsidize others. They gave to charity, joined with like-minded people, or sought profit. The system wasn’t perfect — nothing is — but it was a far cry better than taxing people to support inefficient, uniform government educational and welfare programs.” ~ Robert E. Wright
-
•
In the Asian Flu of 1957-58, They Rejected Lockdowns
“Lockdowns were ruled out in the past precisely so that the damage of a pandemic would be minimized and we could get through it more quickly. This was the science. This was the science all the way through the spring of 2020, when everything changed. Suddenly the “science” favored forgetting everything we’ve learned from the…
-
•
Catastrophe Is All Around Us
“After two weeks, there was still time to undo major parts of the damage of lockdowns. After 10 months, not so much. There will be loss of life for many years to come plus population-wide psychological, social, and economic damage. The catastrophe has not been averted. It is far worse than any of us could…
-
•
Carl Menger and the Sesquicentennial Founding of the Austrian School
“Carl Menger remains a towering figure, not only for the development of his variation on the ‘marginalist’ theme, but for originating a still unique and distinct and highly relevant approach to economic and social analysis that still rightly bears the name, the ‘Austrian School.'” ~ Richard M. Ebeling
-
•
Ronald Coase: A Birthday Appreciation
“Like Adam Smith before him, Ronald Coase remains highly cited but still underrated. His ideas on transaction costs, rules, and organizations were influential, but as I wrote when he passed in 2013, ‘a few minutes with the ‘externalities’ section of almost any principles book, or a few seconds watching and listening to TV and radio…