What are the Politics of Inflation?
With the prices of everything rising at historic rates, no issue is shaping politics more right now than inflation. Unfortunately for Americans, Republicans in Washington appear no more serious on the Federal Reserve than the Biden Administration. What lessons can be
The Problem with Public Goods and So-Called Economic Power
In this week’s column, I’d like to discuss two arguments Murray Rothbard gives that respond to influential criticisms of the free market. His answers to the two arguments follow a common strategy. In each case, he rejects the key premise
Do Markets Cater to Our Worst Impulses?
For all the great value in Heather Heying and Bret Weinstein’s new book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century, we find plenty of enmity toward markets and market forces. The market’s avarice and ravenous desire for growth is bad for
Women Representation: A Corporate Spree
With two years into the pandemic, diversity hiring has increased across industries and at all levels of the corporate space. This is partially true because of the path that COVID-19 has traced for a gig economy. The mere introduction of
Unmask America
Enough is enough. It is time to stop wearing masks, or at the very least to eliminate mask mandates in all settings. This is especially urgent for children in schools and universities, who suffer the effects of masks for long hours each day
Stop Trying to Turn Economics into a Branch of Psychology
Recently, a relatively new economics called behavioral economics (BE) has started to gain popularity. Its practitioners, such as Daniel Kahneman, Vernon Smith, and Richard Thaler, were awarded Nobel Prizes for their contribution in the field of BE. The BE framework emerged
Can You Say Marginal Rate of Substitution?
Once, when my newborn son was barely back from the hospital, I was holding him in my arms with my wife looking on. I asked him, "Can you say marginal rate of substitution?" My wife recognized that as a bit of
Down with Legal Tender
When one studies the history of money, one cannot help wondering why people should have put up for so long with governments exercising an exclusive power over 2,000 years that was regularly used to exploit and defraud them. This can
The Municipal Convention Center Racket Is Alive and Well
The crown jewel of Las Vegas trade shows, the Consumer Electronics Show, just left town having attracted only a quarter of the show’s typical attendance. At the same time, the Consumer Electronics Show was the first big test for Elon
The Louisiana Purchase and the Corruption of the Jeffersonians
The Revolution of 1800 removed the Hamiltonians from power, and in Jefferson's first term, America witnessed a major reduction of federal power. In his second term, however, an offer by French Emperor Napoleon to purchase the Louisiana territory would mark