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Few political ideas have proven as durable as the complaint embedded in the Declaration of Independence that the British Crown was “imposing taxes on us without our consent.” That grievance was not merely rhetorical flourish; it captured a central concern of the American colonists about the relationship between political authority and individual liberty. More than .. MORE
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International Trade
How much is international trade costing Americans jobs? It turns out, not much. A major objection by protectionists is that international trade with other countries, especially low-wage countries, will undermine American workers. As a consequence, there will be a “giant sucking sound” (to use Ross Perot’s phrasing) as jobs are pulled from the United States .. MORE
Sam's Links
Sam Enright works on innovation policy at Progress Ireland, an independent policy think tank in Dublin, and runs a publication called The Fitzwilliam. Most relevant to us, on his personal blog , he writes a popular link roundup; what follows is an abridged version of his Links for June. Blogs and short links 1. From .. MORE
Political Economy
Adam Smith’s publication in 1776 of An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (WN) may not have had a direct influence on the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments (TMS) was better known in 1776 and certainly did influence the colonists. But Smith’s arguments on political economy may .. MORE
Obituaries
On July 13, the field of economic education lost one of its leading educators, Dr. Mark C. Schug. I had the privilege of knowing Mark for many years and the honor of coauthoring Economic Episodes in Civics and American Government with him. This tribute aims to preserve the historical record of his remarkable career and .. MORE
Economic Methods
Can a private company be worth more than Canada’s entire economy? Some people seem to think so. Every so often, a superstar company, usually in the tech sector, hits a record valuation, prompting comparisons to a country’s GDP. For example, NVIDIA’s market capitalization surpassed Canada’s GDP in 2025. By May 2026, the chip designer was .. MORE
Political Economy
Few political ideas have proven as durable as the complaint embedded in the Declaration of Independence that the British Crown was “imposing taxes on us without our consent.” That grievance was not merely rhetorical flourish; it captured a central concern of the American colonists about the relationship between political authority and individual liberty. More than .. MORE
Austrian Economics
Imagine that history made one small exception. For one evening only, time stopped separating generations. High above the noise of a packed World Cup final game, in a quiet corner of the grandstand untouched by television cameras, eight elderly gentlemen quietly took their seats. No one around them seemed to notice. The crowd had come .. MORE
Political Economy
America was born in war. The American Revolution and subsequent constitution of the newly-formed United States reflected some of the key ideas of liberalism—natural rights, government by consent, and limits on state power. The Revolution, however, was just the beginning of war as part of the American identity. Between 1798 and 2023, the United States .. MORE
Labor Market
This month, amid World Cup fever, New York City implemented a new job-protection law. This law forbids app-based rideshare platforms from removing drivers unless they can show they have “just cause” or a “bona fide economic reason.” The new law follows a pattern set by a similar pandemic-era law, also from New York City, which .. MORE
Trade is not just about transactions. It’s about relationships and trust built and earned over time. Just over a year ago, citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), President Trump began unilaterally changing tariff rates with countries around the world. The goal was to restructure global trade. Since this was the first time any .. MORE
Beginning on July 1, 2020, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) superseded the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as the trade deal among the three countries.1 Unlike NAFTA, which only included a transparency provision, the USMCA contains specific measures aimed at fighting corruption. This addition demonstrates a shared commitment among the participating nations to enhance .. MORE
“[W]hatever we may think of Smith and the Wealth of Nations they did become symbolic of the new discipline of economics through the centuries and it hardly befits us to question the judgments of past generations’s assessments of the value of a work they read for themselves for their own purposes. It is a matter .. MORE
1. Introduction Public Choice is more than you think. The usual quick definition—“applying economics to the study of politics”—is not wrong, but it’s facile. Public Choice asks how political actors use information and respond to incentives. That’s a lot more than just an application of economic tools to a new context. Public Choice was born .. MORE
Did the British never offer representation to the colonies? One British concern might well be the rapidly growing population of the colonies thus giving them representation might well transfer power to the colonies.
Mactoul, July 24