All Posts Tagged With: "social science"

Eugenics: Progressivism’s Ultimate Social Engineering

According to the received account of the Progressive Era, an enlightened government swept in and regulated markets for goods, labor, and capital, thereby protecting the hapless masses from the vicissitudes of unrestrained laissez-faire capitalism. The Progressives had faith that experts would rise above self-interest and implement wise plans to create a great society. The resulting [...]

21Sep2011 | and and Art Carden | 21 comments | Continued

Herbert Spencer: Libertarian Prophet

At the time of his death a century ago, the English social theorist Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was widely considered one of the most significant thinkers of his era, a scholar of encyclopedic learning and enormous vision whose works formed a regular part of university curricula in philosophy and the social sciences. Today he is seldom [...]

7Jul2010 | Roderick T. Long | 5 comments | Continued

Hypnotized by Models

We live in an age where abstract models of the real world are held in high regard. Wall Street firms hire mathematicians and physicists to create sophisticated mathematical representations of various assets and markets. Meteorologists employ computer simulations in an attempt to anticipate the path of storms and predict next week’s weather. Marketing firms try [...]

1Mar2005 | and and Gene Callahan | 1 comment | Continued

Why Are Economists So Misunderstood?

Here is a puzzle. I’m at a social gathering that includes some doctors. One doctor is discussing a prescription drug for a particular ailment. I interrupt with a lengthy discourse on the medication, explaining that the doctor’s understanding is faulty. He has misunderstood the most important applications of the drug. His analysis of the side [...]

1Jan2004 | Russell Roberts | 8 comments | Continued

Atomistic Individualism: Anatomy of a Smear

Contributing Editor Tibor Machan is a professor at the Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University. For more than two centuries classical liberalism has irked thinkers both right and left. Hegel, Rousseau, Comte, and of course Karl Marx did a great deal of pen-wielding to combat it, and one of their most potent [...]

1Oct2003 | Tibor R. Machan | 1 comment | Continued
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