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In 1960, Ronald Coase published what would become one of the most cited articles in economics and contribute to his receipt of a Nobel Prize. Coase’s point was both simple and revolutionary. First, he noted, externalities—costs from economic activity borne by people not directly involved in that activity—are reciprocal: for example, a factory’s pollution that .. MORE
An Economist Looks at Europe
When Lord Lionel Robbins accepted to become the supervisor of my Ph.D. thesis I felt lucky, but did not know how lucky I was. I had been studying for a degree in Political Science at the London School of Economics. I wanted to go further and dig under politics to uncover the economic strands of .. MORE
Featured Article
We often hear that it’s a bad idea to take on large debts or even to get into debt at all. “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” says Polonius to his son Laertes in one of the most famous passages from Hamlet. Polonius’s reason for avoiding borrowing is that it “dulls the edge of .. MORE
Macroeconomics
Artificial Intelligence
Income Distribution
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Violence and War
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Economics of Crime
Family Economics
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Business Economics
econtalk-podcast
Author, economist, and theologian Mary Hirschfeld of Villanova University talks about her book, Aquinas and the Market, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Hirschfeld looks at the nature of our economic activity as buyers and sellers and whether our pursuit of economic growth and material well-being comes at a cost. She encourages a skeptical stance about .. MORE
econtalk-podcast
Author and economist Emily Oster of Brown University talks about her book, The Family Firm, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Oster argues that running your family life the way you’d run your own business makes for a better family in today’s crazy world. And where possible, the myriad of decisions you make should be based .. MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Here are some highlights of my weekly reading for the week just passed. Providing Labor Market Context for Debt-Related Driver’s License Suspensions in Ohio by Kyle D. Fee and Brian A. Mikelbank, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Community Development Reports, February 23, 2o24. Excerpt: Based on our analysis, over 830,000 Ohioans could be at risk .. MORE
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Public Goods differ from private goods in that they are non-rivalrous in consumption and nonexcludable. If I watch a fireworks show, it doesn’t reduce the amount of “fireworks show” my neighbor can enjoy. If I’m going to put on a fireworks show, I can’t prevent non-payers from watching my bombs bursting in air. Since public .. MORE
Explore the lasting legacies and
continued relevance of our classic titles.
In March 1974 I got in touch with Professor Leland Yeager, who was then president-elect of the southern Economics Association, and told him that I wanted to organize a symposium on the economic thought of Ludwig von Mises for the November 1974 meeting of our association in Atlanta, Georgia. Mises had died in October 1973, .. MORE
In his Geschichte und Kritik der Kapitalzins-Theorieen (1884), which I translated in 1890 under the title of Capital and Interest, Professor Bohm-Bawerk, after passing in critical review the various opinions, practical and theoretical, held from the earliest times on the subject of interest, ended with the words: “On the foundation thus laid, I shall try .. MORE
[I]nstitutions should be formative… they should act as links between the personal and the social. What we need, then, is a recommitment to such an understanding of institutions. Our challenge is less to calm the forces that are pelting our society than to reinforce the structures that hold us together. That calls for a spirit .. MORE
with Jan Gerber Few economists today ask whether prices are just. This is due in part to positivism and efforts to remain “value-neutral,” but ultimately, economists no longer discuss just prices because advances in economic thinking make such reasoning intractable or irrelevant. For most folks, however, concerns about just prices still matter—especially regarding housing and .. MORE
VIDEO
On April 10, 2013, Liberty Fund and Butler University sponsored a symposium, “Capitalism, Government, and the Good Society.” The evening began with solo presentations by the three participants–Michael Munger of Duke University, Robert Skidelsky of the University of Warwick, and Richard Epstein of New York University. (Travel complications forced the fourth invited participant, James Galbraith .. MORE
VIDEO
A five-part short video series on the life and contemporary relevance of Adam Smith. This video series, produced by AdamSmithWorks, can be watch as a full 38-minute feature, or in five thematic, classroom-friendly chunks. To access all, click here. Below are some discussion prompts related to this video: Part 1: The Invisible Hand .. 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.
Deficit spending has been a way of life for the federal government for most years since World War II. A whole generation of elected federal officials has come and gone without ever balancing the budget. The last time that federal budget expenditures were brought into balance with revenues was in 1969, and prior to that .. MORE
One of the most popular definitions of recessions is that they are periods when real gross national product (GNP) has declined for at least two consecutive quarters. In 1990, real GNP declined between the third and fourth quarters and again between the fourth quarter of 1990 and the first quarter of 1991. Hence, there is .. MORE
A run on a bank occurs when a large number of depositors, fearing that their bank will be unable to repay their deposits in full and on time, simultaneously try to withdraw their funds immediately. This may create a problem because banks keep only a small fraction of deposits on hand in cash; they lend .. MORE
-Adam Smith
-John Stuart Mill Full Quote >>
-Adam Smith Full Quote >>