Value and Exchange

British economist A.C. Pigou was instrumental in developing the theory of externalities. The theory examines cases where some of the costs or benefits of activities "spill over" onto third parties. When it is a cost that is imposed on third parties, it is called a negative externality. When third parties benefit from an activity in which they are not directly involved, the benefit is called a positive externality. The study of such situations, a part of welfare economics, has been an active area of research since Pigou's efforts early in the twentieth century.

Doctors and patients fed up with the current medical system are negotiating something entirely new, and the AMA is very unhappy. 

Conservation is not an exercise in saving us from ourselves. It is an attempt by the political classes to criminalize choices that we would make in a free market.

According to Tom Brokaw, the "heroic consumer" is keeping the economy from falling into recession. William Anderson deconstructs the Keynesian mythology of spending. 

Neoclassical economists are apt to define away individual differences by packing them into a homogeneous category called "tastes." But this quarantines what economists should be studying.

Shelves of books have been written on Third-World poverty and its supposed cure. At last, here is one, by Hernando de Soto, that makes sense and is well worth reading.

There's a massive shortage of available kidneys for transplant. The solution is the free market, but the objections are mainly moral. Ninos Malek explains.

California's Third World-style energy crisis is a symptom of a deeper problem: pervasive economic ignorance that starts at the top. Thomas DiLorenzo reports.

Dinesh D'Souza's new book on the moral conundrum of success is one of the best popular treatments on the cultural meaning of prosperity to appear in many years. Reviewed by Jeffrey Tucker.

As layoffs mount, Brad Edmonds reflects on the purpose of the labor market, with a special focus on  academic music.