The Geographic History of Us
“Dartnell’s lesson isn’t that geography determines, but that geography shapes. It set the ground rules for how the climate behaves, how the currents run and the winds blow, and along those rules all human history progressed. ‘The Earth,’ he appropriately ends, ‘shaped our history.'” ~ Joakim Book
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Entrepreneurship: A Fading Virtue
“It is entrepreneurs who form the foundation and operational unit of Austrian economics but sadly, their importance is slowly fading from mainstream economic analysis. Such a view of economics not only fails to acknowledge a basic tenet of the economy, but opens the door to a perception of society that merely views individuals as numbers and equations to be manipulated at will.” ~ Ethan Yang
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Thomas Paine, Debt Realist and Political Economist Extraordinaire
“Paine’s remarkably accurate and pithily expressed ideas about political economy can now be found in a convenient edition of his work, The Best of Thomas Paine, published by AIER and edited by yours truly.”~ Robert E. Wright
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Debts, Deficits, and the Entitlement Crisis
“The US government’s debt is soaring like never before and promises to only bring economic stagnation if not outright disaster. Looking past Covid-19, we should strive to implement bold reforms to our costly but important entitlement programs to truly deliver on fiscal stability. These reforms may not be popular or easy but there is no doubt that they will be necessary.” ~ Ethan Yang
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To Decline or Not Decline: Western Civilization’s Endless Nemesis
“Judging by the many failed prophets of the past, neither are we this time doomed, from climate change or corporate takeovers or from cultural values and demographics deteriorating. That’s an explosively optimistic notion in a world otherwise flirting with madness.” ~ Joakim Book
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The Assault On Our Right To Earn A Living
“Economic freedom allows us to do everything from building awesome financial systems capable of moving billions of dollars to intimate cultural experiences such as purchasing home-cooked meals from a local restaurant. The assault on our right to earn a living began over a hundred years ago and has now become the accepted reality today. It is fundamentally rooted in a vision of the world that is not only ignorant of sound economics but lacks the moral sensibility to recognize the humanity of work.” ~ Ethan Yang
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The Covid Crucible
“Constant repetition of the bizarre and obviously untrue mantra that policymakers are ‘following the science’ and not basing Covid policy on the 21st-century equivalent of spectral evidence suggests that Miller was on to something fundamental. So watch or read The Crucible until the crucible of Covid repression spurs a new literary treatment of the dangers unleashed by that strange brew of populism, private interest, and government power.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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Should We Rethink Macroeconomics?
“Critiques of mainstream macroeconomics are common among Austrian economists. In a new book, titled Macroeconomics as Systems Theory, Richard Wagner goes further. He starts with Erik Lindahl’s distinction between microeconomics as individual action and macroeconomics as interaction. He then offers a new approach to macroeconomics based on theories of complex systems.” ~ William J. Luther
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Unfreezing the Economy After Lockdowns
“In order to emerge with an economy that can produce prosperity for all and not just those who benefited from lockdowns, we need to embrace the ideas of sound economics, innovation-friendly rules, and individual agency. It was the principles of a free society that brought the wonders of modernity into existence, and it’s the same principles that will lead us back.” ~ Ethan Yang
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When Financial Markets Bubble, There’s Something for Everyone
“Whenever something seems bubbly, accusations of tulips and South Sea bubbles are never far away – even though the proportion of people who could actually explain those iconic episodes of our financial past is frighteningly close to zero. Levenson’s account of the South Sea Bubble will not, I daresay, be the last time historians find reason to look at this grand event of our financial past.” ~ Joakim Book
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Why Government Is Unromantic
“As we see from Austen’s archetypes and the track record of governments, these interfering third parties have the potential to ruin the romance between two individual actors in the market. Relationships between a business and customer or two lovers can last a lifetime and engender terrific prosperity without requiring the involvement of outside participants.” ~ Amelia Janaskie
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Why We Need Simple Rules for a Complex World
“Our current bias towards trying to make a government rule for every single issue that arises in society is not only ignorant of the very institutions of freedom that make our society prosper, but it also threatens to continue a vicious cycle that fuels an ever-encroaching state. A more optimal solution to address societal issues would be a paradigm shift to a system that understands the power and promise of simple rules in an ever more complex world.” ~ Ethan Yang
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