All Posts Tagged With: "adam smith"
Globalization: Extending the Market and Human Well-Being
Much of the prosperity of today’s world arises from the division of labor. Globalization, by extending the market’s scope to the entire world, enables the division of labor to become as developed as the current world population allows. However, to be truly in the interests of consumers and a boon to economic prosperity, globalization needs to occur spontaneously through the workings of the unhampered free market. Government attempts to meddle with this process—even with the sincere intent to facilitate or accelerate it—will only undermine its efficacy at benefiting us all.
1Apr2009 | Gennady Stolyarov II | 0 comments | Continued
Mr. President, Meet Mr. Smith
Since it’s obviously possible for people to reach the pinnacle of politics without seeming to know much about either economics or Smith, perhaps we’re overdue for a little reminder about both.
1Dec2008 | Lawrence W. Reed | 3 comments | ContinuedBook Reviews – December 2008
Is the Welfare State Justified?
by Daniel Shapiro
Cambridge University Press • 2007 • 309 pages • $80.00 hardcover; $27.99 paperback
Reviewed by George C. Leef
Americans have lived with the welfare state for so long—more than 70 years—that for most, it is simply a fact of life. Asking whether it is justified would seem about as pointless as [...]
A Department of Homeland Happiness Security? Only if We Want to Be Unhappy!
Richard Ebeling (rebeling@fee.org) is the president of FEE.
It is more than 230 years since Adam Smith observed that each individual is a better judge of how best to apply his productive efforts than any statesman who would direct the economic activities of the citizenry. Furthermore, Smith said, any such power “would nowhere be so dangerous [...]
Profit: Not Just a Motive
One of the more common complaints of critics of the market is that “the profit motive” works at cross-purposes with people and firms doing “the right thing.” For example, Michael Moore’s film Sicko was motivated by his desire to take the profit motive out of health care because, in his view, the ways people seek [...]
1Mar2008 | Steven Horwitz | 9 comments | ContinuedBook Reviews – January 2008
- The Cure: How Capitalism Can Save American Health Care
by David Gratzer Reviewed by Jane M. Orient
- Self-Determination: The Other Path for Native Americans
Edited by Terry L. Anderson, Bruce L. Benson, and Thomas F. Flanagan Reviewed by William L. Anderson, Jr.
- The Wal-Mart Revolution
by Richard Vedder and Wendell Cox Reviewed by George Leef - On the Wealth of Nations
by P.J. O’Rourke Reviewed by Raymond J. Keating
Pharmaceutical Profits and Health Are Inconsistent? It Just Ain’t So!
In a critical review of Richard Epstein’s book Overdose: How Excessive Government Regulation Stifles Pharmaceutical Innovation, Arnold Relman (The New Republic, July 30) criticizes drug companies for their hypocrisy. Contrasting the companies’ message to stockholders with their message to the larger world, he quotes Pfizer President Jeffrey Kindler’s statement that his goal is “to create [...]
1Nov2007 | David R. Henderson | 0 comments | ContinuedImports, Exports, and Nonsense
The Commerce Department (whose idea was that?) said recently that 2006 was another record year for the U.S. “trade deficit.” The value of imports beat the value of exports by $764 billion. That makes five record years in a row. China’s trade surplus with us hit $233 billion.
Ordinarily, I would ignore this nonstory because, as [...]
Adam Smith in China
James Dorn is a China specialist at the Cato Institute and professor of economics at Towson University in Maryland. A shorter version of this article first appeared in the Times of India, January 24, 2007.
China’s transition from plan to market since 1978 has not only increased prosperity but also has led to a new way [...]
The Anatomy of Economic Advice, Part III
In the first article of this trilogy we explored some of the ambiguities and difficulties that surround the very idea of “economic advice” based on economic science. In the second article we set forth some of the basic foundations of economic science (with special reference to what the science can teach us about what we called the “benign” character of the spontaneous market process).
1Oct2006 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Misplaced Acceptance of Political Leaders
Richard Ebeling is the president of FEE.
This is an election year, and as in all past election years we are inundated with promises and proposals from candidates, each hoping to attract our votes. For the most part what they are promising is “leadership.” They tell us all the things they will do for us if [...]
The Anatomy of Economic Advice, Part I
As is the case with virtually all branches of human knowledge, economic knowledge and understanding are valued not only (or even primarily) for their own sake, but for their usefulness in practical terms. The enormous sums expended each year on economic research and economic education certainly would not be forthcoming if it were not expected that such research and education could help promote wise policies leading to prosperity and economic well-being.
1Aug2006 | Israel M. Kirzner | 0 comments | ContinuedBook Reviews – June 2006
The White Man’s Burden: Why the West’s Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly — reviewed by Richard M. Ebeling
The Capitalist Manifesto by Andrew Bernstein — reviewed by Gary M. Galles
Water for Sale: How Business and the Market Can Resolve the Worlds Water Crisis by Fredrik Segerfeldt — reviewed by George C. Leef
Common Sense Economics: What Everyone Should Know About Wealth and Prosperity by James Gwartney, Richard L. Stroup, and Dwight R. Lee — reviewed by Tom Lehman
1Jun2006 | agardner | 0 comments | ContinuedFrom Pennsylvania to Verdun: Friedrich List and the Origins of World War I
Steven Davies is a senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University in England.
World War I, or the “Great War” (as most Europeans still call it), was one of the biggest disasters in human history. It not only killed and maimed millions, the cream of a generation, it also destroyed the liberal, cosmopolitan system that [...]
What’s Wrong with How We Teach Economics
Brandon Crocker is a real estate executive in San Diego.
The decline in the core curricula of universities and the growing “cultural illiteracy” of high school and college graduates have been lamented in many books and articles. As universities have redesigned their curricula to fit the demands of political correctness and the particular interests of their [...]
Self Interest, Part I
Asked on camera by John Stossel “Who has done more good for humanity, Michael Milken or Mother Teresa?” philosopher David Kelley unhesitatingly answered, “Michael Milken.”
Kelley is surely correct. But I’ve spoken to many people who are horrified by this answer. Mother Teresa’s name is synonymous with good deeds and humanitarian concern. In contrast, Michael Milken [...]
Free-Market Miracle: From Sri Lanka to Wal-Mart
Ralph Hood is a writer in Huntsville, Alabama.
Having spent much of my adulthood in the aviation industry, I belong to the Greater Northern Alabama Lying Pilots’ Coffee Drinking and Tale Telling Society. We meet erratically and unreliably, solely for our own entertainment.
One member, Don Langford, flies freight all over the world in huge airplanes.
Recently, Don [...]
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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
