March
2026

February
2026

January
2026

December
2025

March 2026

Article

Why Adam Smith Embraced Commercial Society: The Wealth of Nations, Book 3

By Dennis C. Rasmussen

"Much of Book 3 is dedicated to a historical account of how and why the feudal order that prevailed throughout Europe for many centuries eventually gave way to a liberal, commercial order—that is, how a world dominated by hierarchy, dependence, and intrastate conflict...

Article

Wealth of Nations, Book 2: Prudence, Competition, and Party Walls

By Maria Pia Paganelli

The lesson is thus clear: Welcome multiple banks of issue and make sure there is always full convertibility, and bankers will be prudent and the economy will be stable and prosperous. Today we do not have banks of issue and notes cannot be converted into gold and silver...

Article

Innovation and Governance in Book 1 of Wealth of Nations

By Eric Schliesser

"Smith is a friend of competitive markets and the division of labor and the institutions that secure these. But within the division of labor and the governance of these institutions, the population needs to be not just prudent, but also to become educated in skill, dext...

February 2026

Featured Article

Trade, Tariffs, and Trust

By David Hebert

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 wor...

Featured Article

The Major Tariff Question

By John O. McGinnis

Learning Resources reaffirms that taxation is Congress's responsibility, and declaring “emergency!” does not rewrite the separation of powers. The Supreme Court’s decision in Learning Resources v. Trump will have immediate political effects, substantial economic ...

Article

Property Rights and the Arctic Contest

By Maurizio Bovi

In recent years, the Arctic has returned to the center of public attention: the renewed interest in Greenland, the progressive opening of maritime routes due to ice melt, and the claims over areas like the Svalbard archipelago are clear signals that Arctic policy will r...

January 2026

December 2025

Book Review

How Productivity Advances

By Arnold Kling

Every line trending upward, every drop in cost, every additional ounce of efficiency we can squeeze from a bundle of inputs is the product of deliberate effort—of thousands of workers, engineers, factory managers, and line supervisors redesigning products, rearranging facto...

Book Review

Exploring The Chile Project

By J.P. Bastos

Any book that intends to provide a complete account of a chapter covering almost 70 years in the history of ideas is an ambitious achievement by itself, especially when it is centered around a fuzzy concept like neoliberalism. If such a book also attempts to cover decades o...

Take our Annual EconTalk Survey

Voting closes February 6th.