CAFE standards, Joe Kalt, Peter van Doren, price controls, Ryan Bourne
Book Review, Kling's Corner
A common misconception is that if a person has an incentive to do something, that incentive will influence his behavior… people are incentivized against smoking… Almost every smoker knows the costs and risks of their habit, even if they downplay them. The problem is that, roughly speaking, the part of the brain that stores knowledge .. MORE
Thinking Straight
Liberal discipline and its frontiers In her first six months as Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May has earned herself the partly playful and partly reproachful nickname of “Theresa Maybe.” Ceaselessly questioned about her “strategy” for what to do about the country’s future in Europe, all she would say was that “Brexit is Brexit,” which may .. MORE
Book Review, Liberty Classics
A Liberty Classics Book Review of Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason: Text and Documents, by F.A. Hayek (edited by Bruce Caldwell). 1 According to F.A. Hayek, what are the theoretical and historical reasons for the tragedies of socialism that emerged in the 20th century? Hayek attempted to answer this question in what .. MORE
Austrian Economics
Data and Evidence
Labor Mobility, Immigration, Outsourcing
Economics of Crime
Energy, Environment, Resources
Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
Business Economics
Money and Inflation
International Trade
Media Watch
econtalk-podcast
Economist and author Glenn Loury of Brown University talks about race in America with EconTalk host Russ Roberts.
econtalk-podcast
Economist and author Michael Munger of Duke University talks about his book, Tomorrow 3.0, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Munger analyzes the rise of companies like Uber and AirBnB as an example of how technology lowers transactions costs. Users and providers can find each other more easily through their smartphones, increasing opportunity. Munger expects these .. MORE
Economics of Crime
This is the fourth in my series on the social costs of drug prohibition. You can read part one here (prison-industrial complex), part two (police militarization) here, and part three (civil asset forfeiture). Prohibition policies are often sold to a willing public on the grounds of crime reduction. This is especially true regarding the .. MORE
Business Economics
Another day, another labor market intervention! Recently, the Biden administration has announced new rules regarding overtime pay and salaried employees. Generally, salaried employees are paid a flat rate, not paid by the hour, and as such don’t get traditional overtime pay. But legislators have decided that lower-paid salaried workers should also get overtime pay. This .. MORE
Explore the lasting legacies and
continued relevance of our classic titles.
One of Econlib’s aims is to put online the most significant works in the history of economic thought, and there can be no doubting the significance of Marx’s influence on both economic theory in the late 19th century and on the creation of Marxist states in the 20th century. From the time of the emergence .. MORE
THE views herein set forth were in the main briefly stated in a pamphlet entitled “Our Land and Land Policy,” published in San Francisco in 1871. I then intended, as soon as I could, to present them more fully, but the opportunity did not for a long time occur. In the meanwhile I became even .. MORE
The Fortunes of Liberalism1 collects a wide-ranging number of Friedrich. A. Hayek’s articles, reviews, addresses, and even obituaries—35 in total—spanning all seven decades of his scholarly career from the 1920s to the 1980s. To call this collection eclectic is an understatement, but the unifying theme is Hayek’s perspective on thinkers who have some connection to .. MORE
Book Review of Predict and Surveil: Data, Discretion, and the Future of Policing, by Sarah Brayne.1 Sarah Brayne has done some excellent sociological research by spending several years embedded in the LAPD [Los Angeles Police Department]-one of the most technologically advanced police departments in the country. By doing so, she has given us a chance .. MORE
VIDEO
The twentieth century witnessed the unparalleled expansion of government power over the lives and livelihoods of individuals. Much of this was the result of two devastating world wars and totalitarian ideologies that directly challenged individual liberty and the free institutions of the open society. Other forms of expansion in the provision of social welfare and .. MORE
VIDEO
Gary Becker (1930-2014) was one of the most original and pathbreaking economists of modern times. His 1992 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences was described as his “having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behaviour and interaction, including nonmarket behavior.” Becker’s early work on discrimination led to his further work .. MORE
Econlib Videos
Conversations with some of the most original thinkers of our time
The Reading Lists by Topic pages contain some suggested readings organized by topic, including materials available on Econlib. Brief reviews or descriptions are included for many items.
Supplementary materials for popular college textbooks used in courses in the Principles of Economics, Microeconomics, Price Theory, and Macroeconomics are suggested by topic.
These free resources are appropriate for teachers of high school and AP economics, social studies, and history classes. They are also appropriate for interested students, home schoolers, and newcomers to the topic of economics.
A worldwide depression struck countries with market economies at the end of the 1920s. Although the Great Depression was relatively mild in some countries, it was severe in others, particularly in the United States, where, at its nadir in 1933, 25 percent of all workers and 37 percent of all nonfarm workers were completely out .. MORE
The United States produces more per capita than any other industrialized country, and in recent years governments at various levels have spent about $350 billion per year, or about 3.5 percent of gross domestic product, on programs serving low-income families.1 Despite this, measured poverty is more prevalent in the United States than in most of .. MORE
For more than two centuries economists have steadfastly promoted free trade among nations as the best trade policy. Despite this intellectual barrage, many “practical” men and women continue to view the case for free trade skeptically, as an abstract argument made by ivory tower economists with, at most, one foot on terra firma. These practical .. MORE
-Israel Kirzner
-Milton Friedman Full Quote >>
-Jean-Baptiste Say Full Quote >>