RFK Jr. purged the ACIP vaccine advisory panel to the tune of heavy innuendo about conflicts of interest. That claim has been studied, though, and the findings were not favorable to the tinfoil wizard's views. [David Henderson and Charles Hooper, WSJ letter to the editor]
A Pointless Vaccine Purge - Econlib
The Wall Street Journal ran a letter co-authored by Charley Hooper and me today (print version tomorrow). I have hesitated to quote more than 2 paragraphs, but I think my contract that allows full quo...
www.econlib.org
June 25, 2025 at 1:02 AM
RFK Jr. purged the ACIP vaccine advisory panel to the tune of heavy innuendo about conflicts of interest. That claim has been studied, though, and the findings were not favorable to the tinfoil wizard's views. [David Henderson and Charles Hooper, WSJ letter to the editor]
Voitaisiin saada kasvua myymällä köyhimpien verta, kuten Yhdysvallat tekee.
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
America's 9th Largest Export - Econlib
Why is America richer than almost all other developed economies? In a recent post I pointed to several factors, including regulatory differences. Industries such as fracking are less heavily regulat...
www.econlib.org
July 3, 2025 at 5:36 AM
Voitaisiin saada kasvua myymällä köyhimpien verta, kuten Yhdysvallat tekee.
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
Good podcast discussion on this topic: www.econtalk.org/kaplan-on-th...
Steven Kaplan on the Inequality and the Top 1% - Econlib
Steven Kaplan of the University of Chicago talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the richest Americans and income inequality. Drawing on work with Joshua Rauh, Kaplan talks about the composition...
www.econtalk.org
September 23, 2026 at 4:56 AM
Good podcast discussion on this topic: www.econtalk.org/kaplan-on-th...
”Kapitalistit rikastuvat myymällä köyhien verta” olisi ollut 1900-luvun alussa karkeaa propagandaa. Nyt se on todellisuutta.
On tämä outo maailma.
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
On tämä outo maailma.
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
America's 9th Largest Export - Econlib
Why is America richer than almost all other developed economies? In a recent post I pointed to several factors, including regulatory differences. Industries such as fracking are less heavily regulat...
www.econlib.org
July 3, 2025 at 6:01 AM
”Kapitalistit rikastuvat myymällä köyhien verta” olisi ollut 1900-luvun alussa karkeaa propagandaa. Nyt se on todellisuutta.
On tämä outo maailma.
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
On tämä outo maailma.
www.econlib.org/americas-9th...
"In Venice, after a doge who attempted to make himself autocrat was beheaded for his offense, subsequent doges were followed in official processions by a sword-bearing symbolic executioner as a reminder of the punishment intended for any leader who attempted to assume dictatorial power." /1
Why Hold Laws As Binding On the Rulers - Econlib
The economic case for submitting political power (“government”) to general laws that it must itself obey is, at bottom, simple: to blunt the incentives of rulers to become despotic or tyrannical towar...
www.econlib.org
May 5, 2025 at 11:25 PM
"In Venice, after a doge who attempted to make himself autocrat was beheaded for his offense, subsequent doges were followed in official processions by a sword-bearing symbolic executioner as a reminder of the punishment intended for any leader who attempted to assume dictatorial power." /1
"Happy Birthday, Wealth of Nations" www.econlib.org/econlog/happ...
Happy Birthday, Wealth of Nations - Econlib
Today marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith‘s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations on March 9, 1776. Wealth of Nations remains a remarkable book, not…
www.econlib.org
March 9, 2026 at 11:17 AM
"Happy Birthday, Wealth of Nations" www.econlib.org/econlog/happ...
"Since Trump’s inauguration and the initial tariffs declared in February, job openings have averaged 410,000. In other words, there are approximately 130,000 fewer job openings in manufacturing since the tariffs were imposed than before" 😲 www.econlib.org/econlog/no-m...
No Manufacturing Jolt from Tariffs - Econlib
Writing on Facebook, AEI economist Mark Perry points to evidence that the tariffs imposed in April by the Trump Administration have not resulted in job creation for the manufacturing industry (Mark’s…
www.econlib.org
December 16, 2025 at 12:39 PM
"Since Trump’s inauguration and the initial tariffs declared in February, job openings have averaged 410,000. In other words, there are approximately 130,000 fewer job openings in manufacturing since the tariffs were imposed than before" 😲 www.econlib.org/econlog/no-m...
"One 'tell' that national security is overused as an excuse for secrecy is that even top officials don’t take the concept seriously.... [Those] from both parties routinely flout national security laws, with no legal consequences." [Scott Sumner, EconLib]
Laws are for the Little People - Econlib
I’ve always been skeptical of people that use “national security” as a justification for various repressive policies, including government secrecy, trade barriers, the military draft, censorship, and ...
www.econlib.org
April 3, 2025 at 12:04 PM
"One 'tell' that national security is overused as an excuse for secrecy is that even top officials don’t take the concept seriously.... [Those] from both parties routinely flout national security laws, with no legal consequences." [Scott Sumner, EconLib]
"Churchill’s private secretary, Sir James Grigg, wrote in his memoirs that 'Winston has almost come to believe it, that the decision to go back to gold was the greatest mistake of his life.'” If only he'd listened to Keynes or anticipated the views of Friedman [John Phelan, EconLib]
Churchill, Keynes, and the General Strike at 100 - Econlib
When Winston Churchill was named Chancellor in November 1924, he is said to have assumed it was the largely ceremonial post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and was as surprised as anyone, give...
www.econlib.org
June 19, 2026 at 11:40 AM
"Churchill’s private secretary, Sir James Grigg, wrote in his memoirs that 'Winston has almost come to believe it, that the decision to go back to gold was the greatest mistake of his life.'” If only he'd listened to Keynes or anticipated the views of Friedman [John Phelan, EconLib]
Hong Kong, for example, has a Phillips curve (they were indexed to the dollar). www.econlib.org/does-the-fed...
Does the Fed set monetary policy in Hong Kong? - Econlib
David Beckworth recently conducted an excellent interview of Mike Bird, which is full of fascinating observations. At one point they were discussing the Hong Kong currency board, which since 1983 has ...
www.econlib.org
September 23, 2026 at 6:03 PM
Hong Kong, for example, has a Phillips curve (they were indexed to the dollar). www.econlib.org/does-the-fed...
Canada offered to produce the Smothers Brothers show when Nixon pressured CBS to cancel it.
Canada should put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air and stream it on the internet. Then do the same with Stephen Colbert when his show ends.
Canada should put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air and stream it on the internet. Then do the same with Stephen Colbert when his show ends.
CBS Doesn't Tell the Whole Smothers Brothers Story - Econlib
How Government Control Can Lead to Censorship in All But Name In the December 11 episode of “CBS Sunday Morning” was a segment on the Smothers Brothers. The show, which was wildly popular and one of m...
share.google
September 19, 2025 at 2:24 AM
Canada offered to produce the Smothers Brothers show when Nixon pressured CBS to cancel it.
Canada should put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air and stream it on the internet. Then do the same with Stephen Colbert when his show ends.
Canada should put Jimmy Kimmel back on the air and stream it on the internet. Then do the same with Stephen Colbert when his show ends.
Innovation and Governance" now at econlib
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
Innovation and Governance in Book 1 of Wealth of Nations - Econlib
“Smith is a friend of competitive markets and the division of labor and the institutions that secure these. But within the division of labor and the governance of these institutions, the population ne...
www.econlib.org
March 11, 2026 at 10:10 PM
Innovation and Governance" now at econlib
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
From last week: part of my ongoing efforts to have The Wealth of Nations, and particularly Book V, recognized as a great, founding text of political science.
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
“Very difficult, perhaps altogether impossible”: Smith’s political science - Econlib
Yet the argument of Book V of Wealth of Nations is something quite different. Over hundreds of pages, Smith patiently shows why both peace and a tolerable administration of justice are historically ra...
www.econlib.org
April 15, 2026 at 5:50 PM
From last week: part of my ongoing efforts to have The Wealth of Nations, and particularly Book V, recognized as a great, founding text of political science.
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
@janetbufton.ca Writer, editor, and co-founder of the Institute for Liberal Studies (Ottawa). A contributor to Econlib, The UnPopulist, and Liberal Currents.
March 12, 2026 at 7:07 PM
@janetbufton.ca Writer, editor, and co-founder of the Institute for Liberal Studies (Ottawa). A contributor to Econlib, The UnPopulist, and Liberal Currents.
This keeps getting brought up but in fact those rates hit almost no one.
www.econlib.org/how-did-we-g....
www.econlib.org/how-did-we-g....
How Did We Get Good Growth in the 1950s Despite High Marginal Tax Rates? - Econlib
In my latest OLLI talk, “Economic Growth: Crucial but Uncertain,” which I posted and talked about on Substack, I didn’t discuss one question that one of the participants asked. I didn’t think to do so...
www.econlib.org
April 8, 2025 at 12:58 PM
This keeps getting brought up but in fact those rates hit almost no one.
www.econlib.org/how-did-we-g....
www.econlib.org/how-did-we-g....
"We claim that Japan is one of our closest allies. We demand that they sacrifice economic growth by refraining from the export of high tech products to China. They accommodate our wishes. And then when a few union jobs are threatened, we turn around and treat them like an enemy nation" 🔥
Revealed preference - Econlib
Watch what they do, not what they say. Government officials frequently tell us that global warming is an existential threat. And yet when it comes to public policy, the issue is treated almost as an…
buff.ly
January 4, 2025 at 5:31 PM
"We claim that Japan is one of our closest allies. We demand that they sacrifice economic growth by refraining from the export of high tech products to China. They accommodate our wishes. And then when a few union jobs are threatened, we turn around and treat them like an enemy nation" 🔥
Abundance theorists are right to focus on the importance of building things. But by ignoring public choice theory, they miss the risk that state-driven growth will benefit the elite rather than the masses. My review of _Abundance_ and _Why Nothing Works_, at Econlib.
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
The Cost of Building Progress - Econlib
Book Review of: Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress–and How to Bring It Back by Marc J. Dunkelman,1; and Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson.2 Vera Coking and the Cost of Progress In 1961, V...
www.econlib.org
August 5, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Abundance theorists are right to focus on the importance of building things. But by ignoring public choice theory, they miss the risk that state-driven growth will benefit the elite rather than the masses. My review of _Abundance_ and _Why Nothing Works_, at Econlib.
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
Price controls, failing since 301 CE (and even earlier) [@eccentricecon.bsky.social]
Diocletian, the Roman Empire, and Forever Failing Price Controls - Econlib
The Roman Empire was in trouble. During the fifty-plus years known as the Crisis of the Third Century (235-284 AD), the throne of Rome changed some 26 times, with the Roman Army engaging in a steady d...
www.econlib.org
August 9, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Price controls, failing since 301 CE (and even earlier) [@eccentricecon.bsky.social]
At EconLog, I respond to Scott Sumner's argument that belief in freedom is a kind of vaccine against authoritarianism. I argue illiberal ideologies also claim a commitment to freedom. The liberal commitment to *universal* freedom is a better predictor of who will resist authoritarianism.
Liberalism, Not Only Freedom, as Vaccine - Econlib
Scott Sumner offers an argument that liberalism can be a vaccine against authoritarianism. I’m inclined to believe that committed liberals can’t be authoritarian because authoritarianism is illiberal....
www.econlib.org
February 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM
At EconLog, I respond to Scott Sumner's argument that belief in freedom is a kind of vaccine against authoritarianism. I argue illiberal ideologies also claim a commitment to freedom. The liberal commitment to *universal* freedom is a better predictor of who will resist authoritarianism.
Trump's loss in court over the legality of his tariffs is good, but did not and cannot fix the real damage. That damage is long term and needs more than court decisions, or even elections, to fix it.
Trade, Tariffs, and Trust - Econlib
Trade is not just about transactions. It’s about relationships and trust built and earned over time. Just over a year ago, citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), President Tru...
www.econlib.org
February 25, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Trump's loss in court over the legality of his tariffs is good, but did not and cannot fix the real damage. That damage is long term and needs more than court decisions, or even elections, to fix it.
@jbufton.bsky.social with a wonderfully thoughtful review of Democracy for Busy People, bringing out its relevance for classical liberals in particular.
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
Democracy's Opportunity Cost - Econlib
A Book Review of Democracy for Busy People, by Kevin J. Elliott.1 Kevin J. Elliott’s 2023 book, Democracy for Busy People, is for anyone interested in liberal democratic politics. The book is worthwhi...
www.econlib.org
December 13, 2024 at 2:05 AM
@jbufton.bsky.social with a wonderfully thoughtful review of Democracy for Busy People, bringing out its relevance for classical liberals in particular.
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
www.econlib.org/library/colu...
was looking up the Robert Frost quote and ended up on econlib dot org and this is so funny
February 20, 2025 at 5:44 PM
was looking up the Robert Frost quote and ended up on econlib dot org and this is so funny