Value and Exchange

It’s laudable when we give gifts that are truly ours to give. This should not be confused with giving away the property of others. In either case, if we want more wealth to give away, we have to produce wealth first.

Do women really pay more than men for the "same" goods and services? No. Not only are these supposedly identical goods not actually identical, but the consumers value them differently, leading to different prices.

Economists Robert Shiller and George Akerlof would have us believe that the market sells us things we don’t really want. That’s not true, but even if it were, the proposed solution — government — is even less likely to give us what we want.

Many advocates for free markets often mistakenly speak of "the market" as if markets by themselves somehow solve problems or provide incentives. Only people can do these things, and markets are just a means to an end.

Thanks to easy credit, automobiles have become very complex and luxurious, and brimming with safety features. The cost of producing these cars, however, won't keep prices from falling once the bubble bursts.

Lego has finally managed to attract girls to their products with the Lego Friends line. In response, feminists have denounced the line for being too "girly." But Lego is just responding to market demand and what Mises called consumer sovereignty.

For some economists, the fact that entrepreneurs make cinnamon rolls instead of selling only celery sticks is a “market failure.” These economists have appointed themselves the arbiters of what is “best” for people, and therefore, what should be sold in the marketplace.

The Swedish welfare state long ago created a rigid and dysfunctional labor market. But now, the influx of immigrants is highlighting just how poorly the Swedish labor market works.

Rather than a cold estimate of the probability of future returns, the Powerball actually illustrates the subjective theory of value.

In his book Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, Philip Mirowski correctly diagnoses many problems with neoclassical economics. The reader soon notices, however, that Mirowski doesn't know the difference between Austrian economists and neoliberals.