Topic: Economic Education

Commoditizing Excess Capacity

– March 18, 2024

“If all the cars, and apartments, have people using them, and all the tools have people making things with them, we will need far fewer of those things. We have ‘enough’ stuff, it’s just in the closet.” ~Michael Munger

READ MORE

Fact-Checking “Greedflation”

– March 18, 2024

“By fueling an overall increase in demand, central banks can generate a sustained increase in the general level of prices — inflation. Central banks are the primary source of money creation, not firms.” ~Nicolás Cachanosky

READ MORE

Cherry-Piketty Data

– March 5, 2024

“Whether the distribution is problematic and calls for correction is one question, but measuring the extent of inequality and whether it is getting worse is an entirely different issue.” ~Robert Mulligan

READ MORE

Beware of the Ceiling

– March 1, 2024

“Alas, most voters are ignorant of Econ 101. They don’t realize that price ceilings actually decrease buyers’ access to goods whose prices are kept artificially low by government diktats.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux

READ MORE

Who is the Greatest Economist of All Time?

– February 28, 2024

“No matter what your specialization, whether in economics or in any other field, Cowen has written a book which is trying to convince you to break out of your specialization and rediscover the broader world of ideas.” ~James Hartley

READ MORE

New AIER Podcast: Econception

– February 15, 2024

Experience the debut episode of AIER’s newest podcast ‘Econception,’ hosted by Dominic Pino. The economy is complicated, but markets work.

READ MORE

NJ’s Plastic Bag Ban Backfires Horribly

– February 14, 2024

“Ignoring the secondary consequences of a policy and focusing solely on its primary intended consequences is what separates a bad economist from a good one.” ~Jon Miltimore

READ MORE

Can Adam Smith Save Gen Z?

– February 7, 2024

“Convincing this generation of college students requires making the positive argument for the free market, restoring to prominence the real case Adam Smith made for markets, individual liberty, and restrained government against the backdrop of official state control.” ~Blake Ball

READ MORE

Create Wealth Without Making Anything

– February 5, 2024

“Sellers at vintage markets and flea malls are creating value every bit as much as their friends and neighbors working in the coal mines or in the mills. They’re transforming lower-value assets to higher-value uses.” ~Art Carden

READ MORE

Arguments Against The Death Penalty and Gun Control Have A Few Things in Common

– January 24, 2024

“We can’t say, ‘There is no point, because the average criminal won’t obey the law.’ Just because the average criminal doesn’t obey the law, that does not mean the marginal criminal won’t.” ~Art Carden

READ MORE

Please Stop Helping Me! A Homeless Economist Faces Unintended Consequences

– January 11, 2024

“Any decent student in a micro-principles class can tell you that interventions have unintended consequences. Here are some of the ‘protections’ from which I am suffering.” ~Nikolai Wenzel

READ MORE

Remembering James Gwartney, 1940-2024

– January 10, 2024

Gwartney will be remembered as a master economic educator and founder of the Economic Freedom of the World (EFW) index, which is published by Canada’s Fraser Institute.

READ MORE