Archive for Donald J. Boudreaux
Donald Boudreaux is chairman of the economics department at George Mason University, a former FEE president, and the author of Globalization.
Manuel Ayau: Guatemala’s Liberal Searcher
Driving to my hotel from the Guatemala City
airport on my first trip to Guatemala in January
2000, I commented to my host that I was
pleasantly surprised to find no customs agents ransacking
peoples luggage. In fact, once my fellow fliers and I
had our passports stamped by the passport-control officials,
the airport was refreshingly clear of the usual
swarms of harassing government officials.
The Dangers of Eminent Domain
In Kelo v. City of New London the United States
Supreme Court greatly weakened the constitutional
protections that property owners have enjoyed
against governments wishing to seize private property.
This weakening is unfortunate.
Thoughts on Freedom ~ Drops and Splashes
Donald Boudreaux is chairman of the economics department at George Mason University and a former president of FEE.
My wife, Karol, and I recently painted some rooms of our home. When I bought the paint at Home Depot, the helpful saleswoman showed me a new product: a plastic lid that slips on a gallon-sized paint can [...]
Novel Economics
Economist Bruce Yandle tells of his first encounter with Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson: “I thought to myself, ‘What arrogance!’” Bruce said. “Here was I, fresh from surviving four years in a rigorous economics Ph.D. program, and I run across this slim book in which a journalist announces that he’s going to teach economics [...]
1Nov2004 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedPlaying by the Rules
During the 1992 presidential campaign, candidate Bill Clinton lyrically and repeatedly praised Americans “who play by the rules.” He did so to indicate that under a Clinton presidency, unlike under the Reagan-Bush regime, such people would not be cheated and harmed by people who break the rules.
I was unaware then (as I remain now) of [...]
A Deficit of Understanding II
Writing in the January/February 2004 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, Sherle Schwenninger of the New America Foundation joined Warren Buffett and scores of politicians in bewailing America’s trade deficit. Like his intellectual compatriots, Schwenninger simply assumes that the trade deficit is debt and that it’s ominous. It is neither.
A trade deficit exists for the United [...]
A Deficit of Understanding
“Nothing, however, can be more absurd than this whole doctrine of the balance of trade.”
—Adam Smith
The Wealth of Nations
Here’s some sound advice: don’t worry about the trade deficit.
The pundits’ and politicians’ hysteria over the trade deficit is rooted in confusion. The fact is, a trade deficit is unlikely to be a problem. Let’s see why [...]
Can You Spot the Billionaire?
A Canadian student once confessed to me the confusion and anger he suffers whenever any of his friends move to the United States. I asked him why he feels this way. He replied that he “could never live in a country with such a high Gini coefficient.”
The Gini coefficient is a measure of income inequality. [...]
The State Is the Source of Rights? It Just Ain’t So!
In 1776 a reliable indicator of an American’s opinion of the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence was his attitude toward the 1649 execution of England’s King Charles I. Liberals, who shared Jefferson’s principles, believed Charles to have been a tyrant and hence most deserving of losing his head. Conservatives, resisting the call to [...]
1Dec2003 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedOblivious to the Obvious
“Ironically, the birth of a child is registered as a reduction in national income per head, while the birth of a farm animal shows up as an improvement.” Peter Bauer (1991)
Donald Boudreaux is chairman of the economics department of George Mason University and former president of FEE.
Each passing year [...]
But what about . . . ?
Donald Boudreax is chairman of the economics department of George Mason University and former president of FEE.
My Virginia license plate, adorning both bumpers of my Japanese car, reads FRE TRDE. I always mention this to audiences so they know exactly where I stand on the question of how free consumers should be to spend their [...]
Of Human Hypocrisy
A scene in W. Somerset Maugham’s beautiful novel Of Human Bondage captures the hypocrisy and pretense of much of what passes today for enlightened thought. Philip Carey, the novel’s protagonist, invites a dying friend, Cronshaw, to spend his final days at his small apartment. Cronshaw is a penniless poet. Leonard Upjohn is a self-satisfied writer [...]
1Jun2003 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedIndividualism and Intelligence
Donald Boudreaux is chairman of the economics department of George Mason University and former president of FEE.
How intelligent are human beings?
This short question is complex. Of course, intelligence exists in many varieties. A math genius might believe in the predictive powers of Tarot cards; a great novelist might stumble over the simplest exercise in logic; [...]
Possibilities vs. Reality
You are visiting a museum, admiring a marble statue of Julius Caesar. Suddenly, you’re shocked to see his arm and hand extend outward toward you and wave. You rightly suspect that the statue is not really marble at all—that it is a machine more appropriately displayed in an amusement park’s haunted house than in a [...]
1Apr2003 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | Continued-
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Book Reviews
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The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom the Economy–If We Let it Happen
By Arthur B. Laffer, Stephen Moore, and Peter J. Tanous
