All Posts Tagged With: "specialization"
Gottfried Haberler: A Centenary Appreciation
During the first week of July in 1936, an international conference on the “Problems of Economic Change” was held in Annecy, France. It brought together such notable economists as Ludwig von Mises, Wilhelm Röpke, Oskar Morgenstern, Bertil Ohlin, Lionel Robbins, Dennis Robertson, Charles Rist, William Rappard, John B. Condliffe, John Van Sickle, Alvin Hansen, John [...]
1Jul2000 | Richard M. Ebeling | 3 comments | ContinuedGovernment Is No God
Assume you need surgery to remove a brain tumor. Two physicians in your town offer to perform this operation. Dr. Smith specializes in neurosurgery; it’s his sole occupation. Dr. Jones, however, divides his time among a variety of occupations. Along with performing neurosurgery, he practices dentistry, gynecology, podiatry, and radiology. He also spends part of [...]
1Jun1999 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 0 comments | ContinuedFighting Back
John Landrum, a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and a former attorney, is in management at a New Orleans manufacturing company. He is the author of Out of Court: How to Protect Your Business From Litigation (Headwaters Press, 1992). I have always envied “how-to” writers and secretly hoped to become one. This is my [...]
1May1999 | John Landrum | 0 comments | ContinuedFriedrich A. Hayek: A Centenary Appreciation
In 1967, English economist Sir John Hicks published an essay titled “The Hayek Story” in which he said that: When the definitive history of economic analysis during the nineteen thirties comes to be written, a leading character in the drama (it was quite a drama) will be Professor Hayek. . . . Hayek’s economic writings [...]
1May1999 | Richard M. Ebeling | 3 comments | ContinuedEverything Is Cheap and Getting Cheaper
“Capitalism is about turning luxuries into necessities.” —Andrew Carnegie[1] We all labor under the notion that the cost of living is high and rising every year. Yet, believe it or not, economic life is relatively inexpensive, and getting cheaper all the time. This truth was reinforced recently when my friend and colleague Roger Clites told [...]
1Dec1998 | Mark Skousen | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Essence of Americanism
Leonard E. Read established FEE in 1946 and served as its president until his death in 1983. “The Essence of Americanism,” first delivered as a speech in 1961, was Mr. Read’s traditional opening address at dozens of FEE seminars. Someone once said: It isn’t that Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it has been [...]
1Sep1998 | Leonard E. Read | 4 comments | ContinuedLessons from Homeschooling
The June 28, 1998, New York Times reported that 56 percent of Massachusetts’ up-and-coming teachers failed their basic test in reading and writing. This result means that well over half of Massachusetts’ freshly minted college graduates with degrees in education cannot competently read and write. Can you guess the response of the Massachusetts State School [...]
1Sep1998 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 1 comment | ContinuedSpecialization and Wealth
Last month I explained how a remarkable degree of social cooperation emerges through market communication. This month, let’s consider some of the advantages we realize from that cooperation. At a general level these advantages are obvious. It simply makes sense that we can produce more if our actions are in harmony than if we are [...]
1Aug1998 | Dwight R. Lee | 1 comment | ContinuedArrogant Antitrusters
Here’s a quiz. I’ll first give you background facts, then ask you a question. Please answer “yes” or “no.” Facts: I have no experience in, or knowledge about, running a dry-cleaning establishment. I’m an economist who has spent his career teaching economics. My only experience with dry-cleaning firms is that I use them to clean [...]
1Aug1998 | Donald J. Boudreaux | 1 comment | ContinuedThe Seven Deadly Sins of High Taxes
Dr. Lee is associate professor of economics at St. Ambrose University College of Business, Davenport, Iowa. By justice a king gives stability to the land, but he who imposes heavy taxes ruins it. —Proverbs 29:4 (New American Bible) In a free society government has an important but limited role to play. Adam Smith, for instance, [...]
1Nov1997 | Christopher Lee | 0 comments | ContinuedUnderstanding Say’s Law of Markets
One of the problems in the world of ideas, particularly in the social sciences, is that the insight behind old ideas can get lost as new ideas crowd the intellectual landscape. Often, the historian of ideas has the thankless task of reminding his colleagues that what they think some long-dead writer said is not, in [...]
1Jan1997 | Steven Horwitz | 43 comments | ContinuedI, Pencil
Leonard E. Read (1898-1983) founded FEE in 1946 and served as its president until his death. “I, Pencil,” his most famous essay, was first published in the December 1958 issue of The Freeman. I am a lead pencil—the ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.* * [...]
1May1996 | Leonard E. Read | 103 comments | ContinuedWhy Wages Rise: 5. Doing What You Can Do Best
Dr. Harper is a member of the staff of the Foundation for Economic Education. In the previous article it was shown how the rise in wages has been due in large measure to the aid of tools that use the stored energy from the sun. Energy used to assist each man-hour of labor has increased [...]
1Jul1956 | F. A. Harper | 0 comments | Continued-
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