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Liberty Classics

Looking Back at the Austrian Revival

A Liberty Classic Book Review of The Foundations of Modern Austrian Economics, edited by Edwin Dolan.1 What’s so Austrian about “Austrian economics?” The label was originally a pejorative, coined by Gustav Schmoller, a harsh critic of Carl Menger’s work. It was an attempt to attach Menger’s ideas to a “provincial” or unsophisticated area. If he .. MORE

Book Review

The War That Never Ends

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

Book Review

Put Away the Puppets

A Book Review of Escaping Paternalism: Rationality, Behavioral Economics, and Public Policy, by Mario J. Rizzo and Glen Whitman.1 Are you saving enough for retirement? How do you know? How can I tell? What if there is a benchmark against which to compare your savings? If you meet it, all is well. But what if .. MORE

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Economic and Political Philosophy

Did Your Suppliers Order You to Do Something for Christmas?

By Pierre Lemieux

Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings

Military Law and Rational Choice

By Kevin Corcoran

Liberty

We’re Number 17! We’re Number 17!

By David Henderson

International Trade

Jason Harrison on the politics of taxes

By Scott Sumner

Political Economy

A Rewrite of a Famous Mencken Aphorism on Democracy

By Pierre Lemieux

Adam Smith

Charity Begins at Home

By John Alcorn

City Formation, Urban Issues

Fixing Sick Cities (with Alain Bertaud)

Economic and Political Philosophy

Knowing Everything There Is To Know

By Pierre Lemieux

Economics of Health Care

My Weekly Reading for December 22, 2024

By David Henderson

Cross-country Comparisons

Printing Money for Reparations: A Dangerous Path for Colombia

By Omar Hernandez

EconTalk

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econtalk-extra

How Much Went to Your Brain?

How do you communicate complicated ideas, let alone persuade people to change their mind about something they think they know? Why do we have to “learn things the hard way” all the time??? These are some of the questions EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomed Adam Mastroianni back to discuss in this episode. Mastroianni says it’s .. MORE

econtalk-extra

Artificial Intelligence and the Man of System

In this episode, host Russ Roberts welcomes Zvi Mowshowitz to discuss the merits of AI, causes for optimism and concern, AI as a ‘man of system’, and technology as a last bastion of the freedom to innovate. Artificial intelligence is still in its infancy, but learning to walk quickly. What was once just some chatbots .. MORE

EconLog

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Macroeconomics

Is inflation meaningful? Is it useful?

In several recent posts, Tyler Cowen has stressed the need for better models of inflation. In one case, he expressed exasperation at my claim that (price) inflation is an almost meaningless concept: 4b. More seriously, Scott seems to dismiss the price level concept altogether. For instance he once wrote: “In the past, I’ve frequently argued .. MORE

Economics and Culture

Why Does Santa Claus Exist?

Every year, millions of parents propagate the myth of “Santa Claus”: an omniscient, magical man bringing near-infinite toys to children across the globe. Santa Claus employs elves and flying reindeer, lives in an inhospitable environment, and necessarily travels 0.5% the speed of light. Despite the obvious dubiousness of these claims, parents invest in the story .. MORE

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continued relevance of our classic titles.

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“The Tradition of Spontaneous Order”

By Norman Barry

The theory of spontaneous order has a long tradition in the history of social thought, yet it would be true to say that, until the last decade, it was all but eclipsed in the social science of the twentieth century. For much of this period the idea of spontaneous order—that most of those things of .. MORE

Tyranny Unmasked

By John Taylor

Most political writers have concluded, that a republican government, over a very large territory, cannot exist; and as this opinion is sustained by alarming proofs, and weighty authorities, it is entitled to much respect, and serious consideration. All extensive territories in past times, and all in the present age, except those of the United States, .. MORE

Book Reviews and Suggested Readings

Some Unpleasant Thoughts: Refugees and Wealth

By Kwok Ping Tsang

A book review of The Wealth of Refugees: How Displaced People Can Build Economies by Alexander Betts (Oxford University Press, 2021)1 A key idea in Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations is that people have a persistent and ever-present drive to “better their own conditions”. Leave people alone, and prosperity and other improvements of life .. MORE

Touching the Elephant

By Kwok Ping Tsang

Review of China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption, by Yuen Yuen Ang.1 The parable of blind men touching an elephant is a good description of how scholars are putting forward theories to explain the growth of China. Wanting to know what an elephant looks like, each man touches one part .. MORE

Conversations

VIDEO

A Conversation with Milton Friedman

Recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Milton Friedman (1912-2006) has long been recognized as one of our most important economic thinkers and a leader of the Chicago school of economics. He is the author of many books and articles in economics, including A Theory of the Consumption Function and A Monetary History .. MORE

VIDEO

Capitalism, Government, and the Good Society

On April 10, 2013, Liberty Fund and Butler University sponsored a symposium, “Capitalism, Government, and the Good Society.” The evening began with solo presentations by the three participants–Michael Munger of Duke University, Robert Skidelsky of the University of Warwick, and Richard Epstein of New York University. (Travel complications forced the fourth invited participant, James Galbraith .. MORE

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Guides

College Economics Topics

Supplementary materials for popular college textbooks used in courses in the Principles of Economics, Microeconomics, Price Theory, and Macroeconomics are suggested by topic.

Economist Biographies

From the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics

Corporations and Financial Markets , Economic History

The 2008 Financial Crisis

It was, according to accounts filtering out of the White House, an extraordinary scene. Hank Paulson, the U.S. treasury secretary and a man with a personal fortune estimated at $700m (£380m), had got down on one knee before the most powerful woman in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, and begged her to save his plan to rescue .. MORE

Economic Regulation, Government Policy

Trucking Deregulation

Regulation The federal government has been regulating prices and competition in interstate transportation ever since Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to oversee the railroad industry in 1887. Truckers were brought under the control of the ICC in 1935 after persistent lobbying by state regulators, the ICC itself, and especially, the railroads, which had .. MORE

Basic Concepts, Economic Regulation, Government Policy

Monopoly

A monopoly is an enterprise that is the only seller of a good or service. In the absence of government intervention, a monopoly is free to set any price it chooses and will usually set the price that yields the largest possible profit. Just being a monopoly need not make an enterprise more profitable than .. MORE

Quotes

Without theory, one can never understand the general underlying mechanisms that operate in different situations. If not harnessed to solving empirical puzzles, theoretical work can spin off under its own momentum, reflecting little of the empirical world.

-Elinor Ostrom

To a real wise man the judicious and well-weighted approbation of a single wise man, gives more heartfelt satisfaction than all the noisy applauses of ten thousand ignorant though enthusiastic admirers.

-Adam Smith Full Quote >>

Knowledge is more a matter of learning than of the exercise of absolute judgment. Learning requires time, and in time the situation dealt with, as well as the learner, undergoes change.Rick, Uncertainty, and Profit

-Frank H. Knight Full Quote >>