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Book Review
A Book Review of The Mirage of Social Justice, by Friedrich Hayek. Volume II of his Law, Legislation, and Liberty1 Published in 1976, The Mirage of Social Justice was the second volume of Friedrich Hayek’s trilogy Law, Legislation, and Liberty. My review of the first volume, Rules and Order, appeared on Econlib2 following the publication .. MORE
Book Review, Kling's Corner
In all the fields touched by the six boomers profiled here—technology, entertainment, economics, academia, politics, law—what they passed on to their children was worse than what they inherited. Helen Andrews, Boomers: The Men and Women Who Promised Freedom and Delivered Disaster, p. 196.1 Helen Andrews passes her verdict on the Baby Boom generation after presenting .. MORE
An Economist Looks at Europe
Where goods do not cross borders soldiers will. —attributed to Frédéric Bastiat1 There was a time when I understood the reasons for protectionism better than the arguments for free trade. Then I heard my doctoral supervisor, Lord Lionel Robbins, say in class that David Ricardo’s comparative cost theory of international free trade was the pons .. MORE
Cross-country Comparisons
Adam Smith
Liberty
Economic and Political Philosophy
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Supply-side Economics
Finance, Risk, Uncertainty, Probability Theory
Politics and Economics
Economic and Political Philosophy
econtalk-podcast
Bright colors, long tails, and dances of seduction: they may hurt a bird’s chances of survival in the wild, but they seem to increase the chances of reproduction. Is this all part of natural selection or is sexual selection its own force in the bird world? Is there such a thing as beauty for beauty’s sake? What can we .. MORE
econtalk-extra
Like many of you, I love when EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes real-world entrepreneurs to the show, as he did this episode with Elizabeth Suzann founder Elizabeth Pape. Their discussion included the start-up story of the company, a fascinating exegesis of the price of an Elizabeth Suzann garment, and the practice of shopping ethically. I .. MORE
Economic and Political Philosophy
John Stuart Mill famously wrote, about pushing principles to their logical limit, that “unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case” (On Liberty). This is not obvious, for extremes often produce antinomic or non-generalizable results. One may perhaps affirm that stealing $25 from Elon Musk without anybody .. MORE
Liberty
In two EconLog posts (“Canada’s Decline in Press Freedom,” August 24, 2021, and “Canada’s Decline in Press Freedom, Part 2,” December 14, 2021), I documented the fact that Canada’s federal government under Justin Trudeau was subsidizing journalism. This is an attack on press freedom. As I wrote in an article on this same issue .. MORE
Explore the lasting legacies and
continued relevance of our classic titles.
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) first published The Theory of Money and Credit in German, in 1912. The edition presented here is that published by Liberty Fund in 1980, which was translated from the German by H. E. Batson originally in 1934, with additions in 1953. Only a few corrections of obvious typos were made for .. MORE
Economic conditions are constantly changing, and each generation looks at its own problems in its own way. In England, as well as on the Continent and in America, Economic studies are being more vigorously pursued now than ever before; but all this activity has only shown the more clearly that Economic science is, and must .. MORE
A Liberty Classic Book Review of Areopagitica and Other Political Writings of John Milton.1 What does it take for a book to get banned? The Newbery Award-winning children’s book, The Higher Power of Lucky, has been the center of a storm of this kind of debate because of its use of the apparently shocking word “scrotum.” .. MORE
A Book Review of Escaping Paternalism: Rationality, Behavioral Economics, and Public Policy, by Mario J. Rizzo and Glen Whitman.1 Are you saving enough for retirement? How do you know? How can I tell? What if there is a benchmark against which to compare your savings? If you meet it, all is well. But what if .. MORE
VIDEO
A professor at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago in the 1960s and a primary figure in Chicago School Economics and in the field of Law and Economics, Harold Demsetz has contributed original research on the theory of the firm, regulation in markets, industrial organization, antitrust policy, transaction costs, externalities, and .. MORE
VIDEO
The twentieth century witnessed the unparalleled expansion of government power over the lives and livelihoods of individuals. Much of this was the result of two devastating world wars and totalitarian ideologies that directly challenged individual liberty and the free institutions of the open society. Other forms of expansion in the provision of social welfare and .. 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.
National industrial policy is a rubric for a broad range of proposed economic reforms that emerged as a unified political program in the early eighties. Had they been passed, these reforms would have given government officials additional authority, as well as the necessary fiscal and regulatory powers, to directly alter the country’s industrial structure. Proponents .. MORE
The corporate income tax is the most poorly understood of all the major methods by which the U.S. government collects money. Most economists concluded long ago that it is among the least efficient and least defensible taxes. Although they have trouble agreeing on—much less measuring with any precision—who actually bears the burden of the corporate .. MORE
Most nations, including the United States, have used military drafts at various times. Regardless of one’s views on military or defense policy, a draft has many economic aspects that are inherently unfair (and inefficient) and unacceptable to most economists. Hence, the question of whether to have a draft is really a question of whether any .. MORE
-Arthur Seldon
-Frederic Bastiat Full Quote >>
-Leonard E. Read Full Quote >>