Mere Economics (Page 11)

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I Read Things And Write About Them: Reviews in Regulation

The last two issues of Regulation contain a couple of my book reviews. Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative, by Glenn Loury. Review here. Glenn Loury is one of the greatest economist of the last half-century, and his name comes up in the Nobel Prize conversation. He also hosts

Did Smith, Ricardo, and Mill Toil in Vain?

In his underrated book (originally published in 1960, but containing a collection of essays that spanned decades), Epistemological Problems of Economics, Ludwig von Mises wrote: * Once one has correctly grasped the position of the concept of cost within the framework of modern science, one will have no difficulty in seeing

Law and Economics Classics - Unlimited Liability for Torts

At Grove City College, I teach Law and Economics--a course that explicitly examines how "people expand their options by cooperating." It therefore lies at the heart of "mere economics." In this sermon series, I'll be posting a summary of classic L&E papers

How Paris Gets Fed

The central question of economics is "how Paris gets fed," that is how billions of people cooperate on a global scale to procure food, clothing, and shelter, not to mention a whole lot more. Ever since Frederic Bastiat posed this thought experiment, food–and the marvel of the

Five Ways Minimum Wage Studies Fail - Anticipation

The first post on the Mere Economics blog revisited a post I'd written over at the Independent Institute. Here's part 3. Entrepreneurs, to be successful, must be forward-looking. They’re in the business of anticipating future states of affairs and arranging production in the present based

How Studying Economic History Made Me Happier

Show me anything, and I will immediately gravitate to its flaws and imperfections. I have a flair for the negative. I worry about worst-case scenarios. I fret about injustice. As far as I know, I always have, but I have particularly vivid memories of being emotionally devastated when I learned

Law and Econ Classics - Of Coase and Cattle

At Grove City College, I teach Law and Economics-a course that explicitly examines how "people expand their options by cooperating." It therefore lies at the heart of "mere economics." In this sermon series of sorts, I'll be posting a summary of classic L&

One of My Best Decisions Ever: Avoiding News

In 2011, Bryan Caplan introduced me to Rolf Dobelli's essay "Avoid News." It's especially worth reading in a world of endless doom-scrolling and conversations about digital detox. News is like candy: OK in moderation, but it will do to your brain what a steady

Brian Albrehct on the California Wildfires

Our friend Brian Albrecht brings mere economic analysis to bear on the California fires tragedy. California is burning. The tragedy of the destruction is unfathomable. On top of that, many homes don’t have insurance. Why? This is because of price controls. But CA's Prop 103 system goes

Yes, Government IS Like These Signs

In a recent post, Art asks rhetorically whether government is like these signs: As Murray Rothbard masterfully explains in these old lectures, government policy is at war with itself: 4. Price Controls in the Oil IndustryThe disappearance of oil has been forecast every decade. Prices were overlooked. When the price