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Jeff Hummel on the American Revolution

By David Henderson | Jul 3 2025
Every few years, I post on an excellent article on the American revolution by economic historian Jeff Hummel. It’s on Econlib. I asked Jeff to write it in 2018 and it has been a perennial hit. Indeed, in  a newsletter a few years ago, Liberty Fund stated: Our most popular Article ever is from Jeffrey ...

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Voice, Exit, and Cheerleaders

By Sarah Skwire | Jun 27 2025

The newest season of the Netflix documentary America’s Sweethearts, which traces the 2024 audition, training, and performance season of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, is a lot more than just a pretty face. The philosopher Loren Lomasky has argued persuasively in Persons, Rights, and the Moral Community that one of the things that makes humans human .. MORE

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"When’s the last time you negotiated a 400% raise with such grace you didn’t even smear your eyeliner?" Excellent because at the end of the day you gotta get paid. Even with the increase mt..

Craig, June 28

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Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings

Bryan Caplan on Antitrust

By Scott Sumner | Jul 4, 2025 | 0

I’ve started reading Bryan Caplan’s excellent new book entitled Pro-Market and Pro-Business: Essays on Laissez-faire, and have covered the first 12 (short) chapters.  I had hoped to find lots of things to post about, but unfortunately I tend to agree with almost all of Bryan’s arguments.  There is one chapter on antitrust, however, which I .. MORE

Liberty

Jeff Hummel on the American Revolution

By David Henderson | Jul 3, 2025 | 7

Every few years, I post on an excellent article on the American revolution by economic historian Jeff Hummel. It’s on Econlib. I asked Jeff to write it in 2018 and it has been a perennial hit. Indeed, in  a newsletter a few years ago, Liberty Fund stated: Our most popular Article ever is from Jeffrey .. MORE

Law and Economics

Transaction Costs and the Law

By Jon Murphy | Jul 3, 2025 | 9

Despite Ronald Coase’s many contributions to economics, he is most famous for the co-called Coase Theorem, which is just one small part of his paper The Problem of Social Cost.  Simply put, in a world of sufficiently low transaction costs, property rights, institutions, and the law don’t matter.  If rights are assigned randomly, the result .. MORE

Economic Education

Cash Transfers: Cutsinger’s Solution

By Bryan Cutsinger | Jul 2, 2025 | 2

Question: One common argument against public assistance taking the form of direct cash handouts is that the recipients will use the money to buy things that taxpayers find objectionable, e.g., illicit drugs, gambling, etc. To avoid this outcome, the argument goes, public assistance should take the form of in-kind transfers, e.g., food, housing, medical care, .. MORE

Political Economy

The Marriage of Jeff Bezos in Venice

By Pierre Lemieux | Jul 2, 2025 | 17

The vocal opposition of some locals to Jeff Bezos’s marriage in Venice, in line with the reaction against tourism, illustrates a few important points in economics and political philosophy. The Financial Times reports (“Jeff Bezos’s Wedding Draws Storm of Protest in Venice,” June 24, 2025): “What is happening here is blatant arrogance,” said Marta Sottoriva, .. MORE

EconTalk

Defying the Data: Standard of Living Edition

By Kevin Corcoran | Jul 1, 2025 | 6

In 2007, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote an interesting article advocating for what he called “defying the data.” The idea was fairly simple – say you have some theory explaining how the world works. A new study is published with data that can’t be accounted for with your theoretical framework. How should you respond? One response is .. MORE

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EconTalk

Defying the Data: Standard of Living Edition 6

In 2007, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote an interesting article advocating for what he called “defying the data.” The idea was fairly simple – say you have some theory explaining how the world works. A new study is published with data that can’t be accounted for with your theoretical framework. How should you respond? One response is .. MORE

Adam Smith

My Weekly Reading for June 29, 2025 6

ADAM SMITH AND THE NAVIGATION ACTS: A NEW INTERPRETATION by Caleb Petitt, Libertarianism.org, June 25, 2025. Excerpt: Smith’s discussion of the Navigation Acts has been a boon for protectionists and a thorn in the side of those who love Smith and support free trade and liberty. A deeper examination reveals that Smith was not the wholehearted supporter of the .. MORE

Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings

Lines, Legalism, Limits, and Likeness 3

For today’s post, further thoughts inspired by Barry Lam’s book Fewer Rules, Better People. When Lam puts forth arguments in favor of legalism in his book, one of the main values he argued legalism seeks to preserve is the idea that justice requires we treat like cases alike. If you and I engage in the same .. MORE

Book Reviews and Suggested Readings

Life After College

By Arnold Kling

Can the four-year degree be saved? Not for most learners, I would argue. Once less expensive alternative pathways become clearer and surer, a full-on degree will seem impractical… But why does the degree have to be the only product that colleges sell? And why can’t the American Dream be achieved by other college products, other .. MORE

Economic Sophisms

By Frédéric Bastiat

Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) was a French economist, statesman, and author. He was the leader of the free-trade movement in France from its inception in 1840 until his untimely death in 1850. The first 45 years of his life were spent in preparation for five tremendously productive years writing in favor of freedom. Bastiat was the .. MORE

The Psychology of Authoritarianism

By Arnold Kling

… [those] who score high on the authoritarianism scale agree that (italicized words are direct quotes from the scale) our country needs a mighty leader; that the leader should destroy opponents; that people should trust the judgment of the proper authorities, avoid listening to noisy rabble-rousers in our society who are trying to create doubts .. MORE

Rules for Non-Radicals

By M. Scott King

A Liberty Classic Book Review of The Reason of Rules: Constitutional Political Economy, by Geoffrey Brennan and James M. Buchanan.1 Geoffrey Brennan and James Buchanan’s The Reason of Rules is remarkable. It is an important book, and the questions that the authors wrestle with are massive. When so much academic work feels as though it .. MORE