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Art Carden

It's the Small Stuff: Look Around At Our World of Wonders

I've long loved Don Boudreaux's metaphor of the prosperity pool. Every new innovation, convenience, or increase in output is a drop in the prosperity pool: "a modern, prosperous market economy... is largely the result of many small innovations, each of which is not very significant

The Global Division of Knowledge Improved on "Batman"

My youngest loves the Batman movies and video games, so when it was his night to choose a move, he chose the 1989 version of Batman starring Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, and Kim Basinger. I was surprised at how poorly it held up. Everything seemed hokey, the special effects made

The Global Division of Knowledge Gives Us "Andor"

Like a lot of Star Wars fans, I've been kind of disappointed in the franchise since Disney took it over. I liked The Force Awakens a lot and absolutely loved Rogue One. I thought The Last Jedi was interesting--a good movie on its own--but it created a lot

It Is Finished: Pastoral Prayer From Resurrection Sunday

In my role as an elder at Immanuel Church, I usually offer a pastoral prayer at Sunday worship. Lest one think the story finished on Good Friday, here's the pastoral prayer from this past Sunday: Holy God and good father, you have turned our mourning into dancing. We

It is Finished: Jesus Christ’s Death and Burial for Blasphemers, Persecutors, and Insolent Opponents

I delivered the Good Friday message at Immanuel Church in Birmingham, Alabama on Friday, April 19, 2025. The text, which draws on 1 Timothy 1:12-17 and John 19, is below. The sky went dark, and the temple veil tore. It was noon on a Friday in a backwater of

Shifting Tariff Discourse: Suddenly, Higher Prices Are Good

Years ago, Eliezer Yudkowsky paraphrased Frank Herbert's Dune: "Politics is the mind-killer." The idea is on full display in the ongoing discussions of tariffs, the cratering stock market, and the rising probability of a recession. We were promised Donald Trump would Make America Great Again with

Tariff Musings

Economists have been beating the drum for free trade for at least two and a half centuries, at least since Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations. People refuse to learn, or they just don't care. The new tariffs--calculated incoherently from meaningless data--will bring a big price tag.

Your Job Means More Than You Think: Rethinking Job Descriptions

When people think about meaningful jobs that make a difference, they usually don’t think about janitors, auto mechanics, baristas, fast food workers, middle managers, and secretaries. However, when you think about these jobs, they mean a lot more than you might think. You might be familiar with people inflating

I Listen to Things: Led Zeppelin Covers & Remakes

As a rule, I don't listen to music with lyrics while I'm working--but rules are made to be broken. Sometimes I just need some inspiration, and Amazon, Apple, YouTube, and other streaming services offer a cornucopia. Unlimited economic progress is one of the themes in Strangers

Should We Cheer A Sinking Ship?

You pick up the Wall Street Journal and read a headline announcing that the U.S. is headed for another record trade deficit. Remembering that GDP is the sum of Consumption, Investment, Government Purchases, and Net Exports, you fret because the equation Y = C + I + G + (X-IM) (where X is