Economic History

Eliminating the Debt Ceiling: Is There Anything the 14th Amendment Can’t Do?

“The Biden administration threatens to invoke Section 4 of the Fourteenth Amendment to sidestep the longstanding federal debt ceiling in a way that would increase the power of the executive branch. ” ~ Robert E. Wright

Adam Smith v. Wesley Jones

“It is long past time Americans saw through the multiple misrepresentations that have defended the Jones Act’s nothing-for-something restrictions for over a century, including twisting Adam Smith’s logic into a false endorsement of its enormously costly restrictions.” ~ Gary M. Galles

Hamilton’s Haircuts

“Whatever you think of the wisdom of Hamilton’s moves, our point is simple and stark: The US government has defaulted in the past.” ~ David R. Henderson and Jeffrey R. Hummel

A Look at Covid-19 Recession Through Schumpterarian” creative Destruction” Forces

Does the 1619 Project Have Anything To Teach Us? Phil Magness at the Soho Forum Debate (Video)

“Magness and Holton recently debated the resolution: ‘The New York Times book The 1619 Project, and the Hulu video series based on it, are important contributions to our understanding of slavery and the role of African Americans in American history.'” ~ AIER

Gordon Tullock and the Economics of Slavery

Hayek and Bitcoin

“By seemingly enormous coincidence, Satoshi (assuming he was unaware at the time), would have probably been delighted to learn that in Hayek’s same ‘sly roundabout way’ video interview, he held up a copy of The Times newspaper and declared: ‘I read this everyday.’ Great minds think alike.” ~ Emile Phaneuf

Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America’s Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry

Dismal is Better

“Today the social isolation of the economically minded has different proximate causes, but the underlying reason economic reasoning stands alone is that it stands athwart the desire of many people, perhaps most people, to rearrange the actual world into a world that they can imagine.” ~ Michael C. Munger

An Open Letter to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak

“We can hope that, should Parliament today agree to a unilateral lowering of Britain’s trade barriers, other governments would today, as other governments did in the mid-19th century, respond by unilaterally lowering theirs.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

ESG Investing: Today’s Virtue of Tomorrow’s Taboo?

“In the same way that society destroys statues erected to commemorate yesterday’s heroes, EGS investors run the risk of being judged harshly by future citizens who have the benefit of hindsight.” ~ Ramon P. DeGennaro

A CBDC Would Not Be Money in the Sense Used in the Constitution

“A CBDC is not money because it is not a physical-bearer instrument, but rather by its very nature is trackable and cancellable, like a check or credit card payment.” ~ Robert E. Wright