Topic: Economic Theory

We Thrive Thanks to Many Andrew Yangs, Not One

– October 31, 2019

Entrepreneurs, it turns out, don’t need to understand entrepreneurship. The same creativity that led Yang to create value in our economy now leads him astray.

Economic Education, Economic Theory

How Salesmen Improve Our World

– October 27, 2019

The salesman is the empathetic agent of change that helps us overcome our psychological reticence to part with our property in order to gain something that will genuinely improve our subjective well-being.

Economic Theory, Free Markets, Unemployment

How to Ask for a Raise

– October 25, 2019

If you want to renegotiate and ask for different terms, that should be seen as just doing business. If it works, great. If it does not, you have to choose whether to stay.

Economic Theory

The Economics of Hitchhiking

– October 21, 2019

If you pay attention, you’ll notice a lot of things that “economists in their studies” may not be able to imagine. But they exist. Because people are really good at finding ways to cooperate.

Economic Theory

Economic Freedom and Development in the Real World

– October 2, 2019

As our world continues to develop economically, people’s desire and ability to interfere with the process seem to grow.

Economic Theory

In Defense of Share Buybacks

– September 25, 2019

“The confused objections to share buybacks illustrate the failure to look past the immediate effect and to understand what financial markets do.” ~ Joakim Book

Economic Theory

What Seinfeld Can Teach about Industrial Policy

– September 23, 2019

That Seinfeld was seen by top NBC executives as less-than-promising, only for it to become a multi-billion dollar blockbuster, is a reminder that when it comes to the future of commerce, predictions aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

Economic Theory

“Price Gouging” in Desperate Situations

– September 23, 2019

It is precisely when people are at genuine risk of actually dying for want of the likes of food, water, and shelter that the case against prohibitions on “price gouging” is strongest.

Economic Theory

It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s … the Speculator!

– September 19, 2019

You have heard, no doubt, that we are going to run out of oil. Is there any hope? Can we escape the calamity? Whatever might we hapless citizens do? This sounds like a job for … the Speculator!

Economic Theory

If You Are Early, You Are Wrong

– September 6, 2019

Before a financial meltdown, there is no way to tell with certainty that such a financial meltdown is imminent, even though a lot of pundits and cranks try.

Books, Economic Theory

A Measly Five Bucks to Bust Out of the Ideological Bubble

– July 26, 2019

Apparently nobody, not even the Gray Lady, rigorously fact checks anymore. Or is it that only books reviewed in a few elite outlets count and none happen to critique finance from the non-left? Heck, I can almost hear the editors ask themselves: Only people on the left write the right kind of books, right?

Economic Theory, Socialism

America Needs You, Don Lavoie

– July 26, 2019

In a world where it sometimes feels like free market advocates are tolerating more intervention in our economy than we would have ever predicted, Lavoie calls upon us never to forget the abiding importance of remaining true to one’s belief in the power and humanity of markets.