By Amy Willis

Why are so many people interested in ancient Rome and Greece? We often think of these societies as the foundation of  our own. Historian Bret Devereaux, the guest in this episode, agrees. EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes Devereaux to explore his fascination with the ancients, whose history can still serve as a blue...

By Daniel A. Sumner

Government intervention in food and fiber commodity markets began long ago. The classic case of farm subsidy through trade barriers is the English Corn Laws, which for centuries regulated the import and export of grain in Great Britain and Ireland. They were repealed in 1846. Modern agricultural subsidy programs in the...

By David Henderson

Co-blogger Bryan Caplan's tale of his children's experience with home school is quite impressive. One slight danger is that readers might think you need to be anywhere near as prepared as Bryan and his two older sons to make it a success. But my experience, although way less impressive, also makes the case for some ...

By Nicholas Barbon

TRADE is the Making, and Selling of one sort of Goods for another; The making is called Handy-Craft Trade, and the maker an Artificer; The Selling is called Merchandizing, and the Seller a Merchant: The Artificer is called by several Names from the sort of Goods he makes. As a Clothier, Silk-weaver, Shoo-maker, or Hatt...

By Ibsen Martinez

Whenever Latin Americans from different national origins coincide in a social gathering, such as a dinner party or a game of dominoes, they begin by courteously paying compliment to the best attributes of each other's countries. The scenery, the weather, the cuisine, the beauty of the women are as thoroughly revie...

By Bryan Caplan

When my best friend in Austin quips, "It's great living in a blue city in a red state," I'm often tempted to reply, "We really don't know what it would be like to live in a red city in a red state - or even a red city in a blue state."  Why?  Because they barely exist.  Zero cities with over one million people curre...

Introduction The Council for Economic Education (CEE) has compiled a list of the 51 key economics concepts common to all U.S. State requirements for high school classes in economics. The resources arranged here supplement these recommended CEE topics. These free resources are appropriate for teachers of high school...

When does the pursuit of safety lead us into danger? Greg Ip of the Wall Street Journal and author of Foolproof talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his book--the way we publicly and privately try to cope with risk and danger and how those choices can create unintended consequences. While much of th...

By Bryan Caplan

Just finished Hrishikesh Joshi's Why It's OK To Speak Your Mind.  Fun book, suitable for campus-wide adoption.  My favorite passage: Now consider a person who conducts his mental life as wildebeest or sardines conduct their lives.  He just moves with the popular opinion of the time... The thing to think now is X, ...

1912-1986

  Leonid Kantorovich shared the 1975 Nobel Prize with Tjalling Koopmans “for their contributions to the theory of optimum allocation of resources.” Kantarovich was born and died in Russia and did all his professional work there. His first major breakthrough came in 1938 when he was consulting with...