One of the great myths of economics is the idea that war is good for the economy. Robert Higgs has shown pretty convincingly that this isn’t the case in a series of papers that culminated in his book Depression, War, and Cold War.

As I’m preparing for my Classical & Marxian Political Economy class this morning, I’m inspired by Book 2, Chapter 3 of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. Here in particular is what Smith has to say about what was given up in order to fight wars:

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price index fell one percent in December. Prices fell in every market except Washington D.C. where the local economy is just humming along wonderfully. Prices in eleven of the twenty markets included in the index sank to post-bust lows: Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Seattle and Tampa, Fla.

“Since Qaddafi’s regime enforced a strict ban on civilians owning firearms, they are using makeshift weapons to protect themselves. Ali said he is armed with a crowbar.” NYT

Senate majority leader Harry Reid learned to swim at a whorehouse in Searchlight Nevada, a tiny mining town located an hour or so southwest of Las Vegas. There were 13 brothels operating when Reid was a kid and the future senator’s mother did laundry for the working girls. Sunday morning would come and go without notice in Searchlight, there wasn’t a single church. Miners displayed their preferences and the market responded.

Brad DeLong recently wrote a blog post titled “Empirical Proof That America’s Libertarians Are Completely Insane.” The “proof” was that libertarian Sasha Volokh had had the audacity to suggest that it would be immoral for the government to tax people even to stop a deadly asteroid from hitting the earth.

Beauty is something most everyone wants more of. And while there is plenty of handwringing about healthcare not being affordable in the United States, cosmetic surgeons are doing fine, despite the recession. These doctors, by the way, are paid directly by the patient.

Gaddafi was certainly the Hitler of the day. In the attack, Gaddafi’s 15-month-old adopted daughter, Hannah, was killed, and his two sons were wounded. Who cared?

Hutcheson, Hume, and Smith, while scarcely orthodox Calvinists, were dedicated Presbyterians according to their own lights.