Environment, Family and Self-Help, International Development and Third World Poverty, Philosophy and Methodology, Theory of Markets, Microeconomics, Price Theory and Applications, Theory of the Firm/Business, Capitalism, Meditation, Spirituality, and Religion
Thinking Straight
“The great turning point came in 2013 with the election of Pope Francis, who seemed determined to follow in the footsteps of his Argentinian countryman, the major revolutionary ‘Che’ Guevara.” —“Che” Guevara in the Vatican, Part I, by Anthony de Jasay. Library of Economics and Liberty, May 2, 2016. In my column last month, .. MORE
Article
In a speech last November at Catholic University,1 Marco Rubio elaborated a program of “common good capitalism.” Drawing on the encyclicals of Pope Leo XIII and John Paul II, Rubio presents a vision of “a system of free enterprise in which workers fulfill their obligation to work and enjoy the benefits of their work, and .. MORE
Book Review, Kling's Corner
… digital media not only enhance information exchange and render offline life obsolete—they also reverse literacy and retrieve orality. … This book is about orality, which once was obsolesced by writing, and about literacy, which is now becoming obsolesced by digital media. —Andrey Mir, Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror: Jaspers’ Axial Age and Logan’s .. MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Economics of Health Care
Trade Barriers
Economic History
Law and Institutions
Cross-country Comparisons
Cost-benefit Analysis
International Trade
Economics of Crime
Political Economy
econtalk-podcast
How does a nice Jewish boy who is also a gay atheist have the chutzpah to lecture Christianity on its obligations to democracy? Listen to author Jonathan Rauch talk about his book Cross Purposes with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts as Rauch makes the case for what he calls a thicker Christianity.
econtalk-extra
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” What has it meant to you in the past, and might there be a way to apply this caution to the way we approach politics? That’s what this episode is about. It’s fan favorite Mike Munger’s 44th appearance on EconTalk, .. MORE
Economic History
Over more than two years, I have occasionally discussed my experience with AI bots—mainly ChatGPT, which I have also used for the featured images of my posts. But except in “TikTok, Godot, Absurd Politics, and Knaves,” I have not directly addressed this bot’s sense of humor, which has become rather impressive. Let me give other .. MORE
Trade Barriers
Within the Trump administration there is a vigorous debate between two camps. One group, headed by Peter Navarro, might be called the “true believers”. They favor mercantilist economic policies of the sort that Argentina implemented during the 1940s and 1950s. Another group, headed by Elon Musk, might be called the free traders. In the middle .. MORE
Explore the lasting legacies and
continued relevance of our classic titles.
Economic conditions are constantly changing, and each generation looks at its own problems in its own way. In England, as well as on the Continent and in America, Economic studies are being more vigorously pursued now than ever before; but all this activity has only shown the more clearly that Economic science is, and must .. 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
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
VIDEO
Nobel laureate Ronald H. Coase (1910-2013) was recorded in 2001 in an extended video now available to the public. Coase’s articles, “The Problem of Social Cost” and “The Nature of the Firm” are among the most important and most often cited works in the whole of economic literature. Coase recounts how he tried to encourage .. 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.
Many environmentalists see preserving the environment as a purely ethical issue that has no connection to economics. In fact, as MIT economist Lester Thurow wrote in The Zero-Sum Society, “Environmentalism is not ethical values pitted against economic values. It is thoroughly economic.” What Thurow means is that preserving the environment is what economists call a .. MORE
The idea of a negative income tax (NIT) is commonly thought to have originated with economist Milton Friedman, who advocated it in his 1962 book, Capitalism and Freedom. Others, notably the late Joseph Pechman, long-time tax dean of the Brookings Institution, credited the University of Wisconsin’s Robert Lampman with at least simultaneous discovery and with .. MORE
The defining trait of urban areas is density: of people, activities, and structures. The defining trait of urban transportation is the ability to cope with this density while moving people and goods. Density creates challenges for urban transportation because of crowding and the expense of providing infrastructure in built-up areas. It also creates certain advantages .. MORE
-Jean-Baptiste Say
-John Stuart Mill Full Quote >>
-Ludwig von Mises Full Quote >>