Thoughts on Freedom
On the Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle, Part I
One of the most vivid memories of my undergraduate years is of sitting for hours in my carrel in the old Polk Library at Nicholls State University and reading F.A. Hayek’s Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle and his Prices and Production. These books on the economic cycles of booms and busts are among the [...]
20Jan2009 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 5 comments | ContinuedThe Ideas of Liberty and FEE
The great University of Chicago economist Frank Knight wrote in 1921 that it makes vastly more difference practically whether we disseminate correct ideas among the people at large in the field of human relations than is the case with mechanical problems. For good or ill, we are committed to the policy of democratic control in [...]
1Nov2008 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedSad Democracy
During this presidential election year, it’s commonplace to sing paeans to the wonders of democracy. I, though, have never been able to join in this chorus. The principal reason is that I put no intrinsic value on democracy; what I value intrinsically is individual liberty. Democracy might have instrumental value if it is part of [...]
1Sep2008 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 1 comment | ContinuedInterpreting the State of the World
Why are optimists about the state of the world disproportionately represented by classical liberals, libertarians, and free- market conservatives, while pessimists about the state of the world are disproportionately represented by statists? Why do left-leaning media such as the New York Times and CNN devote so much ink and airtime alleging that middle-class Americans have made [...]
1Jun2008 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedI Won’t Vote!
Whenever I reveal my steadfast insistence on not voting, most people look at me as if I just admitted to slaughtering my dogs for dinner. Maybe it’s not illegal, say those looks, but it sure as heck is unseemly and irresponsible. Fancying myself to be a morally upright person, I obviously don’t believe that not [...]
1Apr2008 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 14 comments | ContinuedAlcohol, Prohibition, and the Revenuers
The standard account of America’s experience with alcohol Prohibition centers on ideology. This account states that citizens were so infused with Progressive hubris that they set forth in 1919 on a futile quest to mandate morality by banning the manufacture and sale of liquor. But when they recognized that Prohibition was failing, Americans abandoned the [...]
1Jan2008 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Fed’s Potent Power
The Federal Reserve holds the fate of the U.S. economy in its hands. Or that’s the conclusion many observers draw when they watch investors react wildly to the most minute details of the Fed’s policy statements. This conclusion is at once exaggerated and accurate. It’s exaggerated because, at bottom, the Fed controls only the supply [...]
1Jan2007 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 2 comments | ContinuedOn Bad Arguments
It’s regrettable but not surprising that many people are ignorant of economics, of history, and of all the other disciplines that are important to our understanding of society. Equally regrettable, but much more surprising, is the number of people who simply are unable to think clearly. People who think clearly understand how to distinguish logical [...]
1Nov2006 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedLibertarian Paternalism?
Can paternalism and libertarianism be squared with each other? Two prominent scholars think so. University of Chicago law professor Cass Sunstein and University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler make a case for what they call “libertarian paternalism.” Here’s their argument. A large body of experimental data, gathered mostly by behavioral psychologists and behavioral economists, shows [...]
1Sep2006 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedMencken’s Wisdom
Donald Boudreaux (dboudrea@gmu.edu) is chairman of the economics department at George Mason University. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the death of H. L. Mencken (1880–1956). I wish that this Bard of Baltimore had lived far longer—past the age of Methuselah—so that those of us born after World War II could have enjoyed his [...]
1Jun2006 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 2 comments | ContinuedCapitalism and Natural Disasters
Six of America’s ten most powerful storms have struck during the past half-century, yet only one of them (Katrina) is among
Americas ten deadliest hurricanes.
Are Private Decisions Trustworthy?
In coming months, and probably years, President Bush’s “Ownership Society” proposals—in particular, his plans for personal accounts within Social Security, health savings accounts, and more school choice—will stimulate national discussion in directions politicians for decades have feared to tread. Whether you think the President’s specifics have merit or not, this development should be seen as [...]
1Jun2005 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedOn Price Gouging
The immediate aftermath of a natural disaster inevitably brings much higher prices for staple goods, such as lumber, batteries, fuel, and bottled water. Just as inevitably, these higher prices are roundly decried as unjust and inexcusable. Such price hikes are slapped with the derisive name “price gouging.” And even people who typically endorse markets often [...]
1Apr2005 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedDrops and Splashes
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 more easily than, but just as snugly as, the original metal lid. And it’s much easier to [...]
1Feb2005 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedNovel 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) [...]
1Sep2004 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedA 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 [...]
1Jun2004 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 3 comments | Continued-
The Latest
JPMorgan Chase and Casino Banking
JPMorgan Chase & Co., one of the nation’s leading banks, revealed in May that a London trader racked... Read More
Individualism, Trade-Unions, and “Self-Governing Combinations”
Who do you imagine said this? “[Trade-unions] seem natural to the passing phase of social evolution,... Read More
Bubbles, Malinvestment, and Higher Education
Many commentators are asking whether the next big bubble to burst will be the debt associated with the... Read More
JPMorgan’s Blunder Is No Market Failure
I am not going to try to defend JPMorgan Chase for its recent, widely reported financial blunders. ... Read More
For Equality; Against Privilege
This TGIF originally ran July 7, 2006. The freedom philosophy can be boiled down to two phrases: for... Read More
