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Book Review
A Book Review of Manufacturing Militarism: U.S. Government Propaganda in the War on Terror, by Christopher J. Coyne and Abigail R. Hall.1 It’s been over 20 years since the 9/11 attacks. Ever since those horrible attacks, the United States government has been waging a “war on terror” both at home and abroad. The war on .. MORE
Article
Friedrich Hayek Philosopher-economist Friedrich Hayek remains profoundly relevant, even three decades after his death in 1992 at the age of 92. Hayek received the 1974 Nobel Prize in economics for having advanced a simple but seemingly paradoxical theme: civil society as we know it emerged from “human action” but not from “human design.”1 This is .. MORE
Article
After every presidential election, including the most recent, the new majority wants to repeal a list of previous regimes’ policy enactments. Political observers always look to the next two years, wondering what to expect from the party in power. With the 2024 elections delivering unified Republican control of the national government, a lot of attention .. MORE
Trade Barriers
Economic History
Law and Institutions
Cross-country Comparisons
Cost-benefit Analysis
International Trade
Economics of Crime
Political Economy
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
econtalk-podcast
When physician Walter Freeman died in 1972, he still believed that lobotomies were the best treatment for mental illness. A pioneer in the method, he was a deeply confident and charismatic man who eagerly spread the technique in America, long after the rise of alternative treatments that were less destructive. Listen as journalist Megan McArdle and EconTalk’s .. MORE
econtalk-extra
How much thought do you put into how you acquired the food you eat? I don’t mean where did you buy it, but who grew it, found it, caught it, killed it? I admit that the answer for me is, “not much.” I have a small garden patch in the summer and forage a bit .. MORE
Cost-benefit Analysis
There is an endless list of ways we want to improve cities and help the poor. The list of problems plaguing poor communities is long. Every major US city has areas where the schools are terrible, crime is rampant, the sidewalks and streets are little more than rubble, fresh food is in short supply, and .. MORE
International Trade
America’s prosperity is today, as it has always been, rooted in principles of entrepreneurship and voluntary economic exchange. For 250 years, the United States of America has demonstrated to the world that a people left free to innovate and produce for themselves, and for all who trade with them, will enjoy increasing abundance, higher .. MORE
Explore the lasting legacies and
continued relevance of our classic titles.
WHEN a man sets out upon any course of inquiry, the object of his search may be either light or fruit—either knowledge for its own sake or knowledge for the sake of good things to which it leads. In various fields of study these two ideals play parts of varying importance. In the appeal made .. MORE
The Man Versus The State by Herbert Spencer was originally published in 1884 by Williams and Norgate, London and Edinburgh. The book consisted of four articles which had been published in Contemporary Review for February, April, May, June, and July of 1884. For collection in book form, Spencer added a Preface and a Postscript. In .. MORE
Statements such as “public policy X is (or is not) in the national interest” are omnipresent. For example, Peter Navarro and Greg Autry claim that “some American CEOs” are acting against “our national interest.”1 In reality, the concept of national interest is, at best, meaningless. At worst, the concept of national interest is a tool .. MORE
Bureaucracy has a reputation of being a ‘necessary evil’ in modern western society. We are quick to blame bureaucracy for long waits at the DMV [Department of Motor Vehicles], lengthy approval processes for building permits, and for the piles of paperwork at work. Bureaucracy is the source of mandatory workplace trainings and the reason for .. MORE
VIDEO
The twentieth century witnessed the unparalleled expansion of government power over the lives and livelihoods of individuals. Much of this was the result of two devastating world wars and totalitarian ideologies that directly challenged individual liberty and the free institutions of the open society. Other forms of expansion in the provision of social welfare and .. MORE
VIDEO
Anthony de Jasay, a regular columnist for Econlib, was one of the most original and independent thinkers on the relationship between the individual and the state. Through his published works, he challenged the reigning paradigms justifying modern democratic growth. His deeply challenging theoretical works include The State, an analysis that views the state as acting .. MORE
Econlib Videos
Conversations with some of the most original thinkers of our time
The Reading Lists by Topic pages contain some suggested readings organized by topic, including materials available on Econlib. Brief reviews or descriptions are included for many items.
Supplementary materials for popular college textbooks used in courses in the Principles of Economics, Microeconomics, Price Theory, and Macroeconomics are suggested by topic.
These free resources are appropriate for teachers of high school and AP economics, social studies, and history classes. They are also appropriate for interested students, home schoolers, and newcomers to the topic of economics.
The federal government has increasingly assumed responsibility for reducing poverty in America. Its primary approach is to expand programs that transfer wealth, supposedly from the better off to the poor. In 1962, federal transfers to individuals (not counting payments for goods and services provided or interest for money loaned) amounted to 5.2 percent of gross .. MORE
In late 1989 the countries of Eastern Europe broke loose from the Soviet Union, threw off communism, and began to construct democratic institutions and market-oriented economies. This great transformation is founded on the idea that freedom and prosperity can best be advanced by adopting the institutions and practices that have proven successful in Western Europe .. MORE
The price of a share of stock, like that of any other financial asset, equals the present value of the sum of the expected dividends or other cash payments to the shareholders, where future payments are discounted by the interest rate and risks involved. Most of the cash payments to stockholders arise from dividends, which .. MORE
-Elinor Ostrom
-Frederic Bastiat Full Quote >>
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