Mere Economics (Page 13)

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Remembering Walter E. Williams

The great Walter "Excellent" Williams passed away a little more than four years ago. Here's my tribute to him from a few years back. Walter E. Williams, prolific author, piercing cultural commentator, old-school economist (that’s a good thing), devoted husband, loving father, and long-time friend

Applied Mere Economics: More Time With Your Kids Costs Less Than You Think

Here's a harsh reality: your marginal project- the "last in, first out" project on your to-do list or CV- probably isn't very good. I look back at my CV and see some papers the world wouldn't notice if they disappeared. Bad papers

A "Mere Economics" Companion Reading List

Back before Art and I ever set pen to paper for Mere Economics—the book—I'd started referring to the core of what economics teaches as "mere economics." What are the enduring principles that economists, through the generations, have believed and taught? A working knowledge of

I Read Things: Thomas Sowell's "Knowledge and Decisions"

I've been thinking about asking my social media network to recommend a single book, article, poem, or story that they didn't write that will help me understand them better. I'm a total Thomas Sowell fanboy, so if I had to pick a single book,

Diamonds are Forever: A Primer on the Economic Point of View

A few years back, I wrote a little primer on economic reasoning for the Independent Institute. It contained 14 "lessons," each of which centered on what a diamond can teach us about economics. Over the next 14 weeks, I'll post one "lesson" a week.

New Year's Day Reading Suggestion: Michael Novak's City on a Hill

Here's Michael Novak's 2014 essay Caritapolis: A New Global Vision for Christian Social Thought. Novak explains that it would be a shame for people to progress in economic and political liberty but use that liberty to "live like pigs, enslaved to our desires, without reflection

Politics is the Mind-Killer: Beware of Simple Stories Backed By Graphs

About eighteen years ago, Eliezer Yudkowsky explained how "Politics is the Mind-Killer." This was before social media really took off. Since he first wrote, social media sites have been firehose of evidence supporting Yudkowsky's claim. One of my favorite recurring themes on X (formerly Twitter) are

Learn the Economic Point of View

Over at Shepherd, I offer my take on the five best books to learn the economic point of view. Here they are: Read the post for my reasoning. What would you add?

How Markets Work

If life is going to be something other than "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short," we need each other. The way we harness one another's unique talents, knowledge, and perspectives is through markets. Here's a hypothetical course that introduces students to the economic point

Make More. Take Less.

That's my simple, four-word message to anyone who wants to improve the world. Overwhelmed by an endless list of problems and feeling powerless to do anything about them? What can you possibly do about it all? How do you walk by faith and not by sight? As it