Calculation and Knowledge

People like to believe that national defense is outside of economic analysis, but the reality is that laws of economics are immutable and universal. A case in point is the development of the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet.

The greatest innovations don’t emerge from a checklist; they arise from an obsession with understanding something that others overlook.

Due to the obfuscation of prices in a planned economy, individuals and firms do not have access to information they would have gained from prices otherwise.

President Trump has announced his intentions for the government to set up a sovereign wealth fund. However popular the idea might be, it runs headlong into the realities of economic calculation and would soon deteriorate another government slush fund.

Tariffs block the entrepreneurial discovery process that is essential for progress. Tariffs and protectionist policies are damaging in all respects.

A common refrain among college fans is, "The Transfer Portal and NIL are ruining college sports." But are they? Before we can answer that question, we have to be able to explain what is happening, and Austrian economics provides the best analytical tools.

Following last week‘s air crash in Washington, the FAA is receiving extra scrutiny. The real problem with the FAA, however, is that it is a political entity, which means that political goals will determine its capital structure and hiring practices.

Mainstream economists make too much out of “knowledge.” First, the kind of knowledge one needs to be successful in an economy is not knowing things generally but having an understanding that is more than knowing mere facts. The entrepreneur‘s judgement is ultimately what matters.

Fifty years ago today, December 11, 1974, F.A. Hayek gave his Nobel Lecture in Sweden. The conflict between what the public expects science to achieve in satisfaction of popular hopes, and what is really in its power, is a serious matter.

Bob looks at the misconceptions and misuses of GDP accounting, explaining why this widely accepted metric often paints a misleading picture of economic health.