All Posts Tagged With: "uncertainty"
Unintended Consequences
In two earlier Freeman essays, I explored the idea that “ought implies can” and the role of profits in providing knowledge about how best to serve others. Both insights rely on the foundational idea that intentions and results are not the same thing. Thinking we ought to do something does not mean it will have [...]
24Feb2010 | Steven Horwitz | 31 comments | ContinuedOf Genomes and Lemons
Michael Rupert is a senior majoring in economics at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. Frank Stephenson is an assistant professor of economics in Berry College’s Campbell School of Business. While the recent announcement of the mapping of the human genome was greeted with optimism about cures for dread diseases, it also led to predictable teeth-gnashing [...]
1Sep2001 | and Michael E. Rupert | 0 comments | ContinuedIllusion of Control
Christopher Mayer is a commercial loan officer and freelance writer. Every day at noon a man shows up at a street corner with a green flag and a bugle. Every day he waves the flag and blows a few notes on the bugle. Then he goes away. A police officer notices this man’s behavior and [...]
1Sep2001 | Christopher Mayer | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Positive Nature of Risk
Christopher Mayer is a commercial loan officer and freelance writer. There would be no risk if the future were known and all of one’s plans played out exactly as expected. Because of pervasive uncertainty, a variety of risks permeates all human endeavors. It is a common human desire to want to feel secure, to want [...]
1Aug2001 | Christopher Mayer | 0 comments | ContinuedReflections on Self-Responsibility and Libertarianism
Nathaniel Branden is the author of 20 books, including The Art of Living Consciously, Taking Responsibility, and most recently, My Years with Ayn Rand. His Web site is www.nathanielbranden.net. The traditional American values of individualism, self-reliance, self-discipline, and hard work had their roots, in part, in the fact that this country began as a frontier [...]
1Apr2001 | Nathaniel Branden | 3 comments | ContinuedThe Economic Consequences of Rolling Back the Welfare State
It took America’s professional politicians little more than three decades to spend more than $5.5 trillion on welfare programs for their constituents. Looking back, we know the results have not been pretty: work incentives were stood on their head by moral hazards created by government largess. Millions of able-bodied people have been trapped in poverty [...]
1Sep2000 | David L. Littmann | 0 comments | ContinuedMarket Worship?
As we approach the millennium, the pace of economic change quickens. Consumers have always wanted better products at lower prices. But in today’s economy, the market delivers “better and cheaper” more quickly than at any time in human history The time between product improvements gets shorter and shorter. Competition drives prices lower. It’s a wonderful [...]
1Jan1999 | Russell Roberts | 0 comments | ContinuedEconomics in One Page
Dr. Skousen is an economist at Rollins College, Department of Economics, Winter Park, Florida 32789, and editor of Forecasts & Strategies, one of the largest investment newsletters in the country. The third edition of his book Economics of a Pure Gold Standard has recently been published by FEE. What makes it [economics] most fascinating is [...]
1Jan1997 | Mark Skousen | 4 comments | Continued-
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