Family and Self-Help, Health and Health Care
Book Review, Kling's Corner
The role of rationally articulated ideas may be quite modest in its effect on a given election, a legislative vote, or an action of a head of state. Yet the atmosphere in which such decisions take place may be dominated by a particular vision—or by a particular conflict of visions. Where intellectuals have played a .. MORE
Article
Image of Adam Smith in the style of Cezanne. Generated by DALL-E OpenAI software, based on public domain material. Many scholars, especially from other disciplines, have voiced concerns regarding a simplified interpretation of Adam Smith’s ideas in modern economics, asserting that it has been exploited to advance a particular free market ideology. For example, in .. MORE
Book Review, Kling's Corner
Perhaps the oddest thing of our soon-to-be present is that while the Americans revel in their petty, internal squabbles, they will barely notice that elsewhere !!! Lights will flicker and go dark. Famine’s leathery claws will dig deep and hold tight. Access to the inputs—financial and material and labor—that define the modern world will cease .. MORE
Political Economy
Macroeconomics
Economic History
Family and Self-Help
Macroeconomics
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Austrian Economics
econtalk-podcast
Physician and author Lydia Dugdale wants to teach us a better way to die. She argues that this will help us find a better way to live. Listen as she discusses her book, The Lost Art of Dying, with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts.
econtalk-extra
In this episode, Obstetrician and Gynecologist Amy Tuteur asks us to consider, “Why do good mothers feel so badly about themselves?” Tuteur, a mom of four herself, tells EconTalk host Russ Roberts that the natural parenting movement deserves much of the blame. How many of the decisions mothers make during pregnancy and childbirth are subject .. MORE
Macroeconomics
Yes, but not in the way that most people assume. Brian Albrecht has a very good post criticizing ad hoc theories of inflation, such as those that point to a mysterious rise in “collusion”. He favors the traditional supply and demand approach to prices: The important part is that while supply and demand is overly .. MORE
Austrian Economics
Argentina has yet to elect a new president, but based on the leading candidates, economic liberalization is inevitable. On August 11, when a national primary election was held, the pro-government coalition led by current Minister of Economy Sergio Massa received a meager 27% of the total vote, behind two opposition leaders: Javier Milei (30%) and .. MORE
Explore the lasting legacies and
continued relevance of our classic titles.
The present essay is an attempt to explore with some thoroughness an extremely narrow area within the field of the history of economic thought. Although this area is narrow, it merits a scrutiny quite out of proportion to its extension, relating as it does to fundamental ideas around which the entire corpus of economic thought .. MORE
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
A Liberty Classic Book Review of The Economic Point of View: An Essay on the History of Economic Thought, by Israel Kirzner.1 What is economics, really? One popular answer to this question is: who cares? Economics is what economists do. Frank Knight famously quipped, in response to this attitude, “and economists are those who do .. MORE
A Liberty Classic Book Review of Economic Sophisms, by Frédéric Bastiat.1 “The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.” —Frédéric Bastiat, Economic Sophisms (1845). No one defends the cause of free trade against protectionism, individual freedom over central planning, and opportunity contra .. MORE
VIDEO
Israel Kirzner, Professor Emeritus at NYU, is among the foremost scholars in the continuing development of the Austrian school of economic theory. He has extended our understanding of the workings of a free society, illuminated the role of entrepreneurs in the process of economic discovery, and shed new light on the dynamics of market forces. .. 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.
Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, “socialism” and “communism” were synonyms. Both referred to economic systems in which the government owns the means of production. The two terms diverged in meaning largely as a result of the political theory and practice of Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924). Like most contemporary socialists, Lenin believed that socialism could not .. MORE
Economists use the term “inflation” to denote an ongoing rise in the general level of prices quoted in units of money. The magnitude of inflation—the inflation rate—is usually reported as the annualized percentage growth of some broad index of money prices. With U.S. dollar prices rising, a one-dollar bill buys less each year. Inflation thus .. MORE
Compound Rates of Growth In the modern version of an old legend, an investment banker asks to be paid by placing one penny on the first square of a chessboard, two pennies on the second square, four on the third, etc. If the banker had asked that only the white squares be used, the initial .. MORE
-F. A. Hayek
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