EconLib Newsletter

August 2019

[link removed]
Dear friends of Econlib,

We hope you have enjoyed a wonderful summer, and for those of you in classrooms, that you are ready for a spectacular new year.

This month, we were thrilled to see the release of our first Ask Me Anything (AMA) video ([link removed]) , featuring EconTalk host Russ Roberts. You asked questions such as what makes the ideal EconTalk guest, and who Russ would most like to have on in the future. And lots of questions about Adam Smith ([link removed]) , of course.

We'll be offering lots more short videos in the coming months, often in partnership with our newest sister site, AdamSmithWorks.org ([link removed]) . Who would you like to see an AMA with next??? Drop us a line at [email protected] and let us know. As Russ says, we'd love to hear from you.

P.S. If you haven't subscribed to our newest email list, Econlib QuickPicks yet, here's the link ([link removed]) . There's a new collection coming later this month.

Econlib Articles, August 2019


** The Role of the Economist in a Free Society:Friedman to Coase
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by Peter J. Boettke
"Economics in the hands of its masters is an expert critique of rule by expertise. And even among its masters, there are many differing visions of the role of economics."

In the second of three parts, Peter Boettke continues his inquiry into the role of the economist in a free society.
Read More. ([link removed])


** The NCAA: A Case of Rules Gone Wild
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by Paul A. Cleveland

"There is an interesting tendency in human history for rule makers to expand rules beyond all reason. This tendency is so much so that the rules can ultimately threaten the survival of the institution being governed."

Economist Paul Cleveland uses the NCAA's regulation of student athletes to illustrate the absurdity that can come with rule-based governance.

Read More. ([link removed])

George Will on the Fundamentals of Conservative Thought

by Arnold Kling
This month, Arnold Kling reviews George Will's new book, The Conservative Sensibility ([link removed]) .

"It appears to me that on campus today we are seeing another phase in the evolution of liberalism. With its hostility toward free speech and its dissolution of human individuality into gender/racial identity, I would call it anti-liberalism."
Read More. ([link removed])


** Equality and Freedom in Herbert Spencer's Principles of Ethics
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by Alberto Mingardi


EconLog's Alberto Mingardi has this month's Liberty Classic, exploring the still timely wisdom of Herbert Spencer.

"If for most today the idea of “equal” liberty is just cheap talk, for Spencer it was a central requirement for continuing to grasp the benefits of human cooperation which can be kept 'only by conformity to certain requirements which association imposes'."

Read More. ([link removed])

FEATURED ECONLOG POSTS
Featured Post: Steven Horwitz, Why Libertarians Distrust Political Power ([link removed])

Steven Horwitz responds to J.D. Vance's address at the National Conservatism Conference: ([link removed])

"This argument treats libertarian criticisms of political power as either psychological “discomfort” or unexplained “skepticism.” If not that, then the refusal to use political power is the result of ignoring that we have political choices or pretending none are to be made. All of these claims deeply misunderstand the libertarian aversion to the use of political power and ignore the role that such power can often play in causing the very problems further use of such power is hoping to solve."

More Recent Posts
* Scott Sumner, Appointing justices "such as Gorsuch and Kavanaugh" ([link removed])
* Bryan Caplan, Socialism Sucks and Everyone Ought to Know It ([link removed])
* Pierre Lemieux, Minimum Wage: A Most Remarkable Belief ([link removed])
* David Henderson, Reflections on the Democratic Debate ([link removed])
* Sarah Skwire, Something Worse Than Faction ([link removed])
* Alberto Mingardi, Boris Johnson- any reason for optimism? ([link removed])

FEATURED ECONTALK EPISODES

Chris Arnade on Dignity ([link removed])

Photographer, author, and former Wall St. trader Chris Arnade ([link removed]) talks about his book, Dignity ([link removed]) , with EconTalk host Russ Roberts ([link removed]) . Arnade quit his Wall Street trading job and criss-crossed America photographing and getting to know the addicted and homeless who struggle to find work and struggle to survive. The conversation centers on what Arnade learned about Americans and about himself.

Don't miss the EconTalk Extra to complement this episode, Dignity Beside Despair ([link removed]) .

More Recent Episodes:
* Adam Cifu on the Case for Being a Medical Conservative ([link removed])
* Arthur Brooks on Love Your Enemies ([link removed])
* Michael Brendan Dougherty on My Father Left Me Ireland ([link removed])
* Shoshana Zuboff on Surveillance Capitalism ([link removed])

NEW! Don't miss the EconTalk YouTube channe ([link removed]) l, where you can find the newest episodes and complementary clips. EconTalk's FULL archive will also be available soon.
FEATURED CEE ENTRIES
Featured Entry: Distribution of Income ([link removed])

The distribution of income lies at the heart of an enduring issue in political economy—the extent to which government should redistribute income from those with more income to those with less.

Whether government should redistribute income is a normative question, and each person’s answer will depend on his or her values. But for many people, answering the normative question requires understanding the facts about the current income distribution.

* See also National Income Accounts, ([link removed]) by Mack Ott
* Redistribution ([link removed]) , by Dwight Lee
* Taxation, by Joseph J. Minarik ([link removed])
* See also Discovering Positive Deviants ([link removed]) , EconTalk Extra by Amy WIllis
* See also Should Governments Reduce Inequality in Life Spans? ([link removed]) by Dwight R. Lee
* Social Security, by Thomas R. Saving ([link removed])
* Population, by Ronald Demos Lee ([link removed])

Visit Econlib ([link removed])

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