By Anthony Gill
Who defines and enforces property rights? If you are the average person, an undergraduate student, or even a mainstream economics professor, that answer is easy: the government. Look it up! Municipal and county governments determine the deeds to your property and vario...
By Arnold Kling
A central argument of this book is that episodes involving mass violence that contribute to an atmosphere of social unrest and political instability are likely to increase national elites' willingness to invest in primary education in order to prevent future threats...
By Vlad Tarko
One common criticism of capitalism is that it has sparked an epidemic of loneliness. This is often attributed to the individualistic nature of capitalism, and to the fact that markets have replaced a variety of more personal and communal connections with commercial acti...
By Art Carden
Book Review of Poverty, By America, by Matthew Desmond.1 I had not planned to read this book. I found the author's essay on the history of American capitalism for the New York Times Magazine's 1619 Project badly wanting, so I passed over Poverty, By America, ...
By Jordan Ragusa
After months of debate, and substantial changes along the way, this summer Congress successfully enacted a landmark package of tax and spending cuts, a key component of Donald Trump's legislative agenda. Trump's "big beautiful bill" (HR 1) will reduce taxes by around $4...
By Michael T. Kane
Friedrich A. Hayek Is there a right to education? Even in today's polarized political environment in the United States, the overwhelming majority of citizens think there is such a right, and many hold that it applies through the completion of college.1 Every one of t...
By Matt Zwolinski
Book Review of: Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress--and How to Bring It Back by Marc J. Dunkelman,1; and Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson.2 Vera Coking and the Cost of Progress In 1961, Vera Coking and her husband purchased a...
By Arnold Kling
While informed consent and respect for autonomy govern how health care practitioners interact with their patients, this new ethos is absent when it comes to the government asserting authority over adults' health decisions. The government dictates what kinds of healt...
By Arnold Kling
The more research I have done on economic statistics, appreciating the practical challenges, the less certain I am that we know anything solid about today's economy. --Diane Coyle, The Measure of Progress: Counting What Really Matters,1 (page 29) It would ...
By Alejandra Salinas
Roger Scruton English philosopher Roger Scruton was knighted in 2016 for his contributions to philosophy, teaching, and public education. A conservative thinker, he drew on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments1 (herein TMS) and The Wealth of Nations2 (herein WN) i...
By Anna Claire Flowers
The Theory of Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith Relationships between people of different generations make up some of the most meaningful connections life has to offer. They shape deep-seated beliefs, goals, and priorities. In The Theory of Moral Sentiments [TMS]...
By Peter J. Boettke
James Buchanan Virginia Political Economy was born in the foyer of the Social Science Building at the University of Chicago early in 1948. In a casual conversation with a fellow graduate student, Warren Nutter, I discovered that we shared an evaluation and diagno...
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'...
By Scott Sumner
[ Note: This article was originally published on March 10, 2025 by Scott Sumner at his substack under the title "False Dawn: George Selgin on the New Deal."] A Book Review of False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery: 1933-1947, by George Selgin.1 Fra...