I found a interesting critique of the Heritage Foundation’s Economic Freedom Index written by left-wing economist John Miller. On some issues he actually agrees with my critique and he does actually make a reference to me, but on other issues he is a bit confused.

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is financially irresponsible, writes CNBC mutual funds columnist Tim Middleton.

The Domini Social Equity Fund, an index of 400 most socially conscious companies, ranks in the 88th percentile of comparable funds over the past 12 months. The downfall of SRI in recent years has been its concentration on three sectors: tech, health care, and financial services.

The next pope will be a socialist in some sense, writes William Rees-Mogg, since all bishops, to varying degrees, believe that state wealth redistribution is a good thing (notwithstanding the 8th Commandment). So, Rees-Mogg suggests, the new pope should read a little Adam Smith.

Old habits die hard. These should be the best of times for oil-rich Russia, with prices remaining above $50 per barrel. Instead, foreign investors are fleeing, and with them skills, technology, and capital. Amazing how that happens when the state seizes private property and puts businessmen in jail for supposed tax-evasion. Net capital outflow has quadrupled, from $2b to $9b, in one year.

There are those who have claimed Ludwig von Mises to be the greatest economist of the 20th century, particularly the first half of the century. Others have claimed that Murray Rothbard is the greatest economist or social scientist of the second half of the 20th century. I agree with both of these claims. These men were great in many different respects. However, the title of the best economist in history, I would give to Richard Cantillon.