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...
By Arnold Kling
This article has two lists: a list of popular economics books that I recommend reading; and a list of popular economics books that I recommend avoiding.1 What is a popular economics book? My first thought is that it is written without the mathematics and diagrams that ...
By Roberto Salinas León
In their influential magnum opus, Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson develop the proposition that the wealth of nations is ultimately the outcome of political and economic institutions able to generate prosperity, progress and the distribution of opp...
By Alberto Mingardi
A Book Review of Common Law Liberalism: A New Theory of the Libertarian Society, by John Hasnas.1 "Look around." John Hasnas's main political advice may sound extravagant. But his remarkable book, Common Law Liberalism,1 is a caveat against "inattentional blindne...
By Erik W. Matson
David Ricardo. In a recent article in The Financial Times Nat Dyer argues that economists misunderstand tariffs.1 He points out that tariffs have political and moral dimensions not captured by standard economic reasoning. We therefore take economists' widespread advo...
By Michael F. Cannon
Kenneth J. Arrow at Stanford University. Credit: LA Cicero, 11/4/1996. As a health reform discussion lengthens, the probability that someone will cite Kenneth Arrow approaches 1. Close behind is the probability that this person will cite Arrow inaccurately. Arrow sh...
By Gregory Caskey
Note: The names of the Cuban entrepreneurs and their businesses described below have been changed to protect the identities of these individuals. "Don't try to understand this place. We don't understand it either." I heard versions of this refrain repeatedly fro...
By Walter Donway
The year was 1965. I was a college sophomore. My family was middle class—not wealthy, watching the budget—and yet, health care was not a problem. In fact, I never heard my parents discuss it. We had our family physician, and if we needed a specialist, we saw one. Ho...
By Arnold Kling
... the path forward will involve a reconciliation of a commitment to the free market, and its atomization and isolation of individual wants and needs, with the insatiable human desire for some form of collective experience and endeavor... the atomization of daily l...