Recently, on the Human Action Podcast, Jeff Deist and I discussed the Rothbardian theory of the entrepreneurial economy in chapter 8 of Man, Economy, and State, titled “Production, Entrepreneurship, and Change.” In this article I will ill
There is severe confusion about the meaning of economic growth. Many seem to mistakenly think that it has to do with GDP or producing stuff. It does not. Economic growth means that an economy’s ability to satisfy people’s wants, whatever they are—that is, to produce well-being—increases.
GDP is a rather terrible way of capturing this using (public) statistics and is corrupted by those benefitting from corrupting such figures. GDP is not growth.
A U or V? That is the question—whether the economic recovery from the COVID-19 shutdown will be a long, drawn-out process, a wide, flattish U” or a sharp, upward-bound one, a V.
To best wrestle with this question, let us look back a bit at some economic history regarding recessions and depressions, focusing on the US. Is this of interest to those following the course of the Chinese economy? Of course. When the US sneezes, China catches a cold. And, of course, the opposite is true as well.
The political theorist Douglas W. Rae, who has taught at Yale University for decades, likes Hayek’s account of freedom but wants to expand what counts as coercion. By doing so, he hopes to be able to extend the amount of permissible redistribution from what Hayek allows.
Recently a spate of prominent British companies apologized for their past involvement in slavery. Some have even declared intent to pay reparations. As private organizations these entities have the right to make their own choices on reparations.
Almost as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of science fiction. I like it for the escapism it allows me, especially when I have some free time on a trip. But sometimes I also find some real nuggets of insight or inspiration there. That probably reflects, in part, how my attraction to liberty affects my book choices. A good example is a passage from a book that I read on the trip I just returned from, during a time when escapism from current reality seems particularly justified, particularly with respect to liberty.
At the Libertarian Scholars Conference in 2018, our associated scholar Jo Ann Cavallo (Columbia University) presented new research on the literary figure Malaguerra and how he has been used to express “a critical attitude toward the State” in Italian puppet theater.
Why does the dollar bill in one’s pocket have value? The value of money is established, according to some experts, because the government in power says so. For some commentators the value of money is on account of social convention. What this implies is that money has value because it is accepted. And why is it accepted? …because it is accepted!
