EconLog Archive
Uncategorized
Restore Laissez-Faire Capitalism
When I first saw Daniel Henninger’s 2020 op ed “Restore Laissez-Faire Capitalism.” (Wall Street Journal; p. A13, April 16) I said to myself “Whoop di do.” No. I lied. Actually, I said: “Double Whoop di do.” This is a title that a Ludwig von Mises or a Murray Rothbard could easily have chosen for many .. MORE
Labor Market
Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia
I’ve read a fair amount of commentary now, most of it very good, by constitutional legal scholars about the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. The decision is an umbrella one that covers not only the case Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia but also some cases involving other employers. All .. MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
10 Percent Less Democracy
One of the principles I taught my economics students the first day of class and then applied incessantly thereafter was the importance of thinking on the margin. Garett Jones, an economics professor at George Mason University, has written a whole book in which he does just that. Jones considers what would happen if we made .. MORE
Adam Smith
Adam Smith: Myths and Realities
Myth: Adam Smith argued that markets are activated exclusively by people’s self-interest. The Reality Behind the Myth Adam Smith’s most ardent critics generally start their attacks on Smith’s system of political economy by pointing to his reliance on “self-interest” as the predominant, if not sole, human motivation activating market exchanges. Real human beings, critics insist, .. MORE
Liberty
Keep government out of the media
People on the left often favor government support for public news outlets such as NPR and PBS. They argue that the reporters are independent of the government and do a good job. That may be true, but as long as the government is involved there’s always the danger that the public media outlets get turned .. MORE
Labor Market
Black Livelihoods Matter
Like many people, I was repulsed by watching Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin asphyxiate George Floyd in broad daylight. This murder has led to many protests. It has also led many people to go beyond the issue of police brutality and think about what policies would help us act on the principle that black lives .. MORE
Economic Growth
The “Trump Economy” Before Covid-19
In the cover feature of the Summer issue of Regulation, I review the American economy and the economic performance of the Trump administration before Covid-19 hit. I review the evidence on unemployment, GDP growth, wages, stock prices, regulation, trade, public finance, etc. Nine figures illustrate my evaluation. A short excerpt on only one of the .. MORE
Fiscal Policy
The Fed is unlikely to monetize the debt
With the recent explosive growth in the Fed’s balance sheet, there’s been a lot of misleading discussion of the Fed “monetizing the debt”. Debt monetization occurs when a central bank prints high-powered money and uses the funds to buy interest-earning assets such as Treasury debt. In the US, high-powered money is currency (not bank reserves). .. MORE
Cost-benefit Analysis
Henderson on Laura Ingraham Show
Here’s the video from last night. It’s 4 minutes long. Watch it while it’s hot because these things don’t stay long.
Behavioral Economics
Escaping Paternalism Book Club
If you haven’t heard of Mario Rizzo and Glen Whitman‘s Escaping Paternalism, you should. The book is an unbelievably learned, thoughtful, fair, wise, and inspired critique of applied behavioral economics in general and libertarian paternalism (a.k.a. “nudge“) in particular. The book is not light reading. While Rizzo and Whitman patiently introduce readers to key research and .. MORE
Upcoming Events
Henderson on Fox News Channel
I’ll be on Fox News Channel tonight, discussing my op/ed in the Wall Street Journal. Show: Laura Ingraham Time: 7:40 p.m. PDT; 10:40 p.m. EDT.
Cost-benefit Analysis
The Data Are In: It’s Time for Major Reopening
Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, an influential economic analysis from the University of Chicago concluded that the likely benefits of moderate social distancing would greatly exceed the resultant costs. The New York Times and the Washington Post recently cited that study as evidence that the use of strict lockdowns to control the virus’s .. MORE
Economic and Political Philosophy
Discrimination and State Power
Reading a column by Karen Attiah in the Washington Post (“Monuments of White Supremacy Obscure the History of Colonial Crimes. That’s Why They Must Come Down,” June 13, 2020), I remembered the guy who defended the state by asking, “If the state did not exist, who would have abolished slavery?” The real question is, of .. MORE
Economic Education
BOTH Sides Gain From Exchange
When I’ve discussed with people on Facebook my view that the lockdowns should end, people often respond that surely we can wait a few more weeks for a haircut. This happens even though I mentioned nothing about others or me wanting a haircut. The people who make this response would not be contenders for .. MORE
Politics and Economics
Should we trust elite opinion?
Bryan Caplan did a recent post discussing Garett Jones’s new book, which advocates “10% less democracy”. I have not read the book, but this caught my eye: 7. Garett’s chapter on the EU greatly surprised me. Given his vocal skepticism about low-skill immigration in general and refugees in particular, I expected him to concede that the EU .. MORE
Incentives
Cooking Official Statistics Is Not Easy, for Now
After the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a drop in the unemployment rate—from 14.7% in April to “only” 13.3% in May—a friend emailed me to share his suspicion that the unexpectedly low figure was a propagandist lie. The probability of that is not zero, I explained to him, but it is extremely low. These data .. MORE
Economic and Political Philosophy
AEA Hides Its Racist Past
I posted on Thursday about the fact that the officers and governance committees of the American Economic Association don’t know much about the literature on the economics and discrimination. In their statement, they wrote: We recognize that we have only begun to understand racism and its impact on our profession and our discipline. I .. MORE
Fiscal Policy
Bill Whalen and David Henderson Conversation
On June 4, my Hoover colleague Bill Whalen interviewed me about my latest article for Hoover’s Defining Ideas, “Just Say No to State & Local Bailouts,” June 3. I had heard and seen a talk by Bill on Zoom a week earlier and was impressed with his deep knowledge of California politics. His show is .. MORE
Income Distribution
Stop asking the Fed about inequality (and start asking about inflation)
At a recent press conference, I was dismayed to see a number of reporters asking Jay Powell about inequality—an issue far beyond the scope of monetary policy—while asking few questions about the highly questionable current stance of monetary policy. A recent Yahoo Finance article illustrates the confusion: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday acknowledged .. MORE
Economics of Crime
Fewer laws, less police brutality
There has recently been a great deal of discussion as to how to reduce police brutality. I don’t necessarily oppose attempts to reform police forces, but I doubt whether that sort of approach would be effective. In my view, the problem must be addressed indirectly. The primary problem is not too many police; it’s too .. MORE
Behavioral Economics
Why Don’t People Speak Up?
I posted on Facebook a few days ago about the bullying that Justin Wolfers and other economists are doing to try to get an editor of the Journal of Political Economy fired. I start by saying that I don’t know if he should be fired. I don’t know enough about how good an editor he .. MORE