We have long normalized the idea that economics is the use of scarce resources. The problem is that, if resources are scarce, the only option left is to decide how to allocate them, leading to a real struggle—sometimes violent—between the parties to see who gets what little there is.

[This article is one of the winners of the annual Kenneth Garschina Undergraduate Student Essay Contest. In March 2026, in celebration of Murray Rothbard’s 100th birthday, students submitted essays on his iconic Austro-libertarian text, For a New Liberty: A Libertarian Manifesto. The top three contestants presented their essays at the Austrian Economics Research Conference.]

Walter E. Williams often made the point that a policy should be judged by whether it works, not by its good intentions. This warning is especially important because politicians are experts at declaring good intentions. If we judge them by their stated intentions alone, when their schemes end in disaster they could simply remind us that they meant well. Unfortunately, Professor Williams’s warnings went unheeded.

The US Treasury Department last week released its monthly report on federal spending and revenue. March spending for the US federal government was up by more than $20 billion, or by nearly four percent, from March of last year.

On Sunday, April 12, John Williamson (1937–2021)—the distinguished economist of the Peterson Institute—passed away. Williamson is best known for coining the term “Washington Consensus” in a 1990 article.