All Posts Tagged With: "scarcity"
The Snow Plowers’ Petition
Looking for the unseen effects of economic policy is the beginning of wisdom.
9Feb2012 | Steven Horwitz | 10 comments | ContinuedDestroying Value
In Cleveland and other American cities homes are being demolished because five years after the housing bust there is nothing better to do with them. Therein lies a lesson in Austrian business cycle theory. In a world of uncertainty, waste—the destruction of value—is inevitable. Human action, which aims to replace inferior circumstances with superior circumstances, [...]
4Jan2012 | Sheldon Richman | 2 comments | ContinuedThe Infrastructure Delusion: Getting Nowhere Faster
Infrastructure does not an economy make. Highways and railroads, airports and seaports, communications towers and fiber-optic cables are essential for the flow of commerce, but it is the people, goods, and information moving over and through this infrastructure that are the heart of an economy. Overinvestment in roads, bridges, and airports means underinvestment in the [...]
26Oct2011 | Richard W. Fulmer | 12 comments | ContinuedAffording It All
People who don’t understand—or who don’t care about—economics say funny things. Well, they would be funny if they weren’t so damaging when translated into government policy. Take Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell. He must be a smart guy. He’s articulate. He’s been an adviser to a senator of some [...]
24Aug2011 | Sheldon Richman | 2 comments | ContinuedAffording It All
People who don’t understand — or don’t care about — economics say funny things.
10Jun2011 | Sheldon Richman | 24 comments | ContinuedBut There ARE Free Lunches!
Creative discovery, what Israel Kirzner calls “entrepreneurship,” creates value where none existed before.
31May2011 | Sandy Ikeda | 0 comments | ContinuedApplied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One
This book works well on two levels. First, it explains the basic principles of economics in an unusual way—without equations, graphs, and jargon. It could be read easily by an intelligent ninth-grader, but it is neither condescending nor dull. Sowell is a master storyteller. Second, Applied Economics compares how well markets work to how well [...]
9Jul2010 | Craig M. Newmark | 4 comments | ContinuedSee? Repealing the Law of Scarcity Is Easy!
To the surprise of no one who understands Congress, ObamaCare passed, and the Usual Suspects are celebrating this leap into the abyss.
24Mar2010 | William L. Anderson | 19 comments | ContinuedThe Trouble with Keynes
Keynesian theory implies an inherent instability in market economies. Thus the theory cannot possibly explain how a healthy market economy functions—how the market process allows one kind of activity to be traded off against the other.
1Apr2009 | Roger W. Garrison | 3 comments | ContinuedUnpleasant Economists
Economists are not the most pleasant people to have around when others are delightfully praising the benefits of this or that public policy. We acknowledge the existence of scarcity, the fact that to enjoy more of one thing requires having less of another, which in turn forces us into bringing up the unpleasant topic of [...]
1Sep2008 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedEconomists and Scarcity
In a world where concerns about the environment and resources dominate political discussion and, for people like Al Gore, are a “generational mission [that gives] moral purpose” to our lives, thinking clearly about these issues is crucial. Economics can contribute to this discussion by providing its perspective on words such as “scarcity” and “resources,” which [...]
1Jun2008 | Steven Horwitz | 1 comment | ContinuedMisunderstanding Efficiency
Gary Galles is a professor of economics at Pepperdine University. Efficiency—getting the most value from a given amount of resources—is important in a world of scarcity. The more efficient people are, the better off they can make themselves. That’s why economists are always talking about efficiency. Unfortunately, what economists have to say on the subject [...]
1Mar2008 | Gary M. Galles | 2 comments | ContinuedNeed and Public Policy: Handle with Care
In public-policy debates the word most commonly invoked as the ace in the hole is “need.” However, “need” needs careful handling. “Need” has the political advantage, but the logical disadvantage, of lacking a clear meaning. That allows it to be systematically abused to distort understanding and to reach desired conclusions that justify picking people’s pockets [...]
1Nov2007 | Gary M. Galles | 0 comments | ContinuedEconomics for the Citizen: Part V
We’re all grossly ignorant about most things that we use and encounter in our daily lives, but each of us is knowledgeable about tiny, relatively inconsequential things. For example, a baker might be the best baker in town, but he’s grossly ignorant about virtually all the inputs that allow him to be the best baker. [...]
1Aug2006 | Walter E. Williams | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Neglected Factor in the Housing “Bubble”
Is there a housing “bubble”? Debate has swirled recently around this question. But one factor behind increased prices in the housing market seems to be frequently left out of the debate or only mentioned in passing—government. Then-Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan proclaimed last May 20 that the nation’s housing market was “frothy.” He also said [...]
1Mar2006 | Raymond J. Keating | 2 comments | ContinuedMitigating Disaster: Abolish FEMA and Let Gas Prices Rise
The waste, delays, and incompetence that characterize FEMA are the result of a free-rider problem inherent in all federal spending programs.
1Dec2005 | Dwight R. Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedSupply, Demand, Inventory
Supply-and-demand analysis is the bread and butter
of classroom economics. All over America as the
leaves change color and college commences, professors
of economics are shifting supply and demand
curves and showing how the price of a good changes in
response.
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