Robert William Fogel (1926-2013): A Birthday Appreciation
His students report that Fogel had a dictum: If it’s worth doing, it’s worth spending ten years of your life doing it right. Fogel was a master at finding the right questions, finding the right methods and data to answer them, and–importantly–putting in the work to ensure that in the long run, we get things right.” ~ Art Carden
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The Office Will Come Back
“It’s so easy amid political panic for the all-knowing to contend that “this time is different.” Not really. Some things never change. One thing that won’t is the value gained by people working alongside one another.” ~ John Tamny
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Surrounded by Government Failure, Why Do People Still Believe?
“We should continue fighting the battle of ideas because when we are deep into the mess that both parties, and their underlying ideologies, are creating, some people will look for answers and for solutions outside the state.” ~ Veronique de Rugy
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Puzzles about Trade that Make Me Wonder
“What would be the public reaction if the headlines daily announced, say, the number of people who died within the past 24 hours from some virus other than COVID, and reported these daily deaths with vivid bar charts? How would the public react to increased testing of some virus other than COVID and to breathless reports of rising numbers of people testing positive for this other virus?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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The ExIm Bank is Still the Bank of Boeing
“The bank has a long track record of serving mostly large foreign and domestic airlines in higher income nations, and distorting capital markets to fund projects that would likely be funded otherwise. It’s called cronyism.” ~ Veronique de Rugy
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The Dangers of National Service
“There is no acting entity called “the nation” to be served. The reality: what is called national service means doing the bidding of the particular politicians and bureaucrats who hold the reins, issue the orders and reap whatever sadistic satisfaction they gain from so doing.” ~ Warren Gibson
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Managing the Chessboard of Human Society: Lessons from the Online Chessboard
” It seems reasonable that we will never actually master every possible detail of chess, Monopoly, and other games. If games that happen within very well-defined spaces according to very well-defined rules present such insurmountable difficulties, I’m definitely skeptical of the notion that we can design and control a great society.” ~ Art Carden
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Rush Limbaugh Again Cites AIER
“AIER has been a crucial alternative platform for rational discussion of this topic, and this has been useful for alternative voices on all sides. Broadcaster Rush Limbaugh cites AIER at some length in his radio show today. Here is the transcript.” ~ AIER
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The Fed Can’t Revive the Dead, But It Can Delay Their Recovery
“Central planning was tried in the 20th century, and it failed miserably. As evidenced by the U.S. economy’s dynamism, the Fed’s actual power is a fraction of what its supporters and critics both presume.” ~ John Tamny
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An Open Letter to the Institute for New Economic Thinking
“Treating this as a mistake and correcting it is the right thing to do in response to an unfortunate lapse in judgement. Failure to do so in my opinion would amount to among the most egregious instances of such crass intimidation I have seen.” ~ Max Gulker
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Ignore the Cooing of the Deficit Doves
“We skeptics of government power should never stop warning of the dangers of deficit financing, for such financing lowers political decision-makers’ costs of expanding government’s size and scope.” ~ Donald Boudreaux
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The Trust Revolution
“By and large, Henderson and Churi are correct: developing microregulatory technology is part of a “trust revolution,” and one that promises to change and direct the 21st century economy and beyond.” ~ Art Carden
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