EconLib Newsletter

February 2020

"February is for curmudgeons, whinge-bags, and misanthropes. You can't begrudge us one month of the year or blame us for being even crabbier, it's so short. There is nothing good about it, which is why it's so great." ~Lionel Shriver ([link removed])

Happy February, friends! What are you most looking forward to this month? Aim high... you even get an extra day, so make it lovely.

We're hoping to build closer connections with you this month. Maybe you'll consider leaving a comment at EconLog ([link removed]) or EconTalk ([link removed]) , or taking up one of our EconTalk Extras ([link removed]) . Maybe you'll join us for our next online reading group on Lionel Shriver's novel The Mandibles ([link removed]) .* Or maybe you'll take the plunge and commit to our next Virtual Reading group, in which we'll read Why Not Socialism? ([link removed]) and Why Not Capitalism? ([link removed]) side-by-side.**

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy our February edition. As always, if you have comments and/or suggestions for us, feel free to drop us an email at [email protected]. We love to hear from you.



* Starting Monday, February 10 via Facebook and twitter.
** Starting Wednesday, March 11. Email [email protected] for more details.
EconLib Feature Articles, February 2020

Raj Chetty and The New Scientism:
Big Data, Economic Engineering, and The Failure of Economic Education

by Nikolai G. Wenzel

In this Feature, we continue to bring you reactions to the much-heralded new Harvard course led by Raj Chetty.

"Chetty is an exciting lecturer and an innovative thinker. He is addressing a real problem in the literature (understanding social problems) and a real problem in education (flawed principles of economics classes). But while I understand the appeal of Chetty’s Big Data approach, it has deep problems of its own. I cannot forget the lessons of all that failed economic tinkering." Read More. ([link removed])

Why Did Armen Alchain Have to Teach Economics About Property Rights?
by Peter J. Boettke

"Alchian ([link removed]) ’s unique positioning within the economics profession is largely a consequence of the particularities of his time. To an earlier generation of economists educated in the late 19th and early 20th century, many of his insights were just common-knowledge among serious students of classical and early neoclassical economics. But to the generations educated in the post WWII era, Alchian’s insights were so alien to their way of thinking that either he was dismissed as a relic of an earlier age, or exalted to the status of one of the most clever and creative thinkers in the profession." Read More. ([link removed])

[link removed]

Are Economists Basically Immoral?

By Russ K. McCullough
In this new Liberty Classic, Russ McCullough recommends Paul Heyne's fascinating exploration on ethics, theology, and the teaching and methodology of economics.

"Spoiler alert, the answer is “no”. However, it is easy to see how economists get a bad rap when the public thinks economics is all about greed and maximizing profit." Read More. ([link removed])

He Tells Us It's the Institutions.

by Arnold Kling

In this month's book review, Kling muses on Yuval Levin's appeal "for us to go beyond complaining and instead to participate in the process of building and shoring up our institutions." Kling sees everyone- Left or Right- currently dissatisfied with politics. What can be done? Are our institutions truly in irrevocable decline? Read More. ([link removed])

FEATURED ECONLOG POSTS
Featured Post: Scott Sumner, Doubts about education "reform" ([link removed])

I’m skeptical of most proposals for reforming education ([link removed]) . Progressives tend to favor government schools, whereas conservatives tend to favor an approach that yields high test scores. I don’t buy either view...

More Recent Posts
* Bryan Caplan, I Win my EU Bet ([link removed])
* David Henderson, Tribute to Anna J. Schwartz ([link removed])
* Pierre Lemieux, Manufacturing: An Example of Industrial Policy ([link removed])
* Steven Horwitz: Robinson Crusoe: Not Exactly Isolated ([link removed])
* Thomas Firey, The Trump Regulatory Record ([link removed])
* Jayme Lemke, Withdrawing Compliance ([link removed])
* Alberto Mingardi, AirBnB and its Stakeholders ([link removed])
* Sarah Skwire, Count Dracula and the Chamber of Wonders ([link removed])
* Art Carden, The Simple Economics of Pornography ([link removed])
* Russ Roberts, Gratitude, Kindness, Loveliness ([link removed])

FEATURED ECONTALK EPISODES
Adam Minter on Secondhand ([link removed])
Journalist and author Adam Minter ([link removed]) talks about his book Secondhand ([link removed]) with EconTalk host Russ Roberts ([link removed]) . Minter explores the strange and fascinating world of secondhand stuff--the downsizing that the elderly do when they move to smaller quarters, the unseen side of Goodwill Industries, and the global market for rags.

P.S. Don't miss Amy Willis's EconTalk Extra, The Kids Don't Want It, ([link removed]) for this episode, designed to facilitate further thought and discussion on this episode.

P.P.S. Don't miss Sarah Skwire's follow-up EconLog post ([link removed]) on knitting and recycling yarn.

More Recent Episodes:
* Dan Klein on Honest Income ([link removed])
* Janine Barchas on the Lost Books of Jane Austen ([link removed])
* Melanie Mitchell on Artificial Intelligence ([link removed])

Help us continue the conversation with our EconTalk Extras:
* Books as Big- and Binge-worthy- Business ([link removed])
* Alexa, Did the Man East the Hamburger? ([link removed])
* Gains from Trade for Me and Not for Thee? ([link removed])

FEATURED CEE ENTRIES
Featured Entry: Conscription ([link removed]) , by Christopher Jehn

Before the United States abolished the draft in 1973, some of its supporters argued that an all-volunteer force (AVF) would be too expensive because the military would have to pay much higher wages to attract enlistees. But the draft does not really reduce the cost of national defense. It merely shifts part of the cost from the general public to junior military personnel (career personnel are not typically drafted). Read More ([link removed]) .

* See also Defense ([link removed]) , by Benjamin Zycher
* Public Goods ([link removed]) , by Tyler Cowen
* Economic Freedom ([link removed]) , by Robert Lawson
* Junk Bonds ([link removed]) , by Glenn Yago
* See also "The Worldwide Decline in Conscription: A Victory for Economics?" ([link removed]) by Joshua Hall
* See also "Does National Defense Justify Tariffs?" ([link removed]) by Jon Murphy
* Milton Friedman ([link removed]) , CEE Biography
* See also, Friedman on Capitalism and Freedom ([link removed]) at EconTalk

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