Are supporters of the minimum wage law criminals? Possibly, but not necessarily. 

The University of Chicago’s Richard Thaler has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in economics. Thaler is a leading practitioner of behavioral economics, the application of psychology to problems of valuation, choice, exchange, and pricing.

[Excerpt from the opening speech given at the Mises Institute’s 35th Anniversary gala in New York City, October 6, 2017.]

Thank you Ashton. Thank you all so much for making the time to be with us here on this fantastic fall weekend in New York.

Questions of economic development have long been long held a prominent position in economics. How did the most advanced economies get to where they are? What can less-advanced economies do to catch up with the leading pack?

When gun-control advocates make international comparisons on homicide rates, they generally employ an assumption that places with more stringent gun control laws have lower homicide rates. Unfortunately for them, this only holds up when countries with both high levels of gun control and high homicide rates are excluded from the analysis.

Donald Trump caused a stir this week by suggesting that Puerto Rico’s massive $73 billion public debt should be “wiped out.” Puerto Rico narrowly avoided default with an interest payment this summer but the debt is a huge long-term problem for the island. While the cost of this burden is plain, talk of default is considered beyond the pale. Indeed, the White House immediately “walked back” the President’s remark. “I wouldn’t take it word for word with that,” said OMB director Mick Mulvaney.

Here we go again. The United States has been rattled to the core by an unspeakable act of evil perpetrated by a hater of humanity. A quiet, wealthy loner rented a hotel suite in Las Vegas, armed it with shooting platforms and automatic weapons, knocked out two of the windows, and shot at innocents 32 floors below. Fifty-nine people were murdered, and 527 were injured.

Andreas Marquart and Philipp Bagus (see their mises.org author pages here and here) were recently interviewed about their new book by the Austrian Economics Center. Unfortunately for English-language readers, the book is only available in German. Nevertheless, the interview offers some valuable insights.