spontaneous emergence of order out of seeming chaos
Socialist systems distrust the spontaneous order in market distribution of goods and replace it with central planners — with notoriously worse results. A new paper tested the hypothesis that this…
Because legislation is often based merely on a temporally prevailing preference of a majority of legislators and not on the lengthy process of evolving societal customs, legislation becomes arbitrary and…
Russ Roberts offers an excellent antidote for those who believe that government ensures we get what we need in our lives. [W]ho makes sure there’s so much bread? You want…
Hoover Institution economist Russ Roberts devoted his Duke University Hayek Lecture Monday to comparing Adam Smith’s and Friedrich Hayek’s views on the role of markets in helping us live in…
Economics professor Sandy Ikeda hits the nail on the head with his Freeman piece today. Every passage in the piece is eminently quotable, but here’s perhaps the best: “Governments equate…
I believe that almost every state has fallen for the stupendous economic folly of laws against “price-gouging.” North Carolina has. These laws do economic harm by interfering with the market’s…
Yes, the villain of the LEGO movie is named “President Business” and looks like Mitt Romney. But an EconProp video from Andrew Heaton explains why the movie’s overall theme is…
Once again, Professor Sandy Ikeda has written a sharp and insightful piece for The Freeman, this time on the problems of urban planning. He expands on Jane Jacobs’ observations of…
Regular readers in this forum know that the federal Dodd-Frank financial regulation has created plenty of problems. George Leef examines in his latest Forbes column the flawed political process that…
Kevin D. Williamson offers National Review Online readers an excellent primer on the value of free-market processes and concludes his piece with observations about government efforts to substitute expert opinion…
The New York Times recently opined that big storms call for big government. (Ask people on Staten Island how that’s working out for them!) In today’s Freeman piece, Professor Sanford…
We’re hearing a lot from Obama and Romney about their “plans” for reviving the economy and creating jobs. Economist Thomas Sowell, however, points out here that political plans are not…