The eminent economist Edmund Phelps is a “liberal” in the modern sense, not a libertarian, but in his recent book My Journeys in Economic Theory (Columbia University Press, 2023), he makes a number of points that those of us who are libertarians will find useful.

The flowers of entrepreneurship bloom in the strangest places. Kirznerian entrepreneurs attending the rain-soaked Taylor Swift concert at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, determined there would be a market for the rain which had fallen near the pop diva.

Although commonly used, Max Weber’s definition of the state—an entity that has a monopoly on the legitimate use of force within a given geographical area—can mislead people into thinking that the state is the only or even the primary reason for security and order. This is illustrated in the trends in the nonstate provision of security, as revealed by my Google alert for the phrase “private police.” Lately, incidents of car and bike theft have led individuals to either organize themselves to prevent and respond to it or hire private security to do so.

Back in 2002, then-Vice President Dick Cheney claimed “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter” and went on to push for tax cuts combined with more federal spending.