Glimpses of a

New Order

By Arnold Kling

This month, Kling revisits a social science classic, which he finds read “like a prophecy about today’s cultural and political climate.”

Join Kling and special guest Stephanie Slade on October 24 at noon EDT for our monthly “From the Shelf” conversation based on Lasch’s book.

Free to all, but pre-registration is required.

I, Pothole

By D. Eric Schansberg

Just how much knowledge is required to fix a pothole???

You no doubt know the story of I, Pencil, but this month’s Article offers a compelling new genealogy- one that explores the complexity of the production of a public good.

Americans Are Still Thriving

By Jeremy Horpedahl

Has economic growth slowed down in recent decades? Are we worse off than a generation ago? Both regular Americans and economic researchers have been asking these questions a lot lately. The debate often slips into dueling anecdotes or—even worse—wonky discussions of income measures and inflation adjustments.

What’s the best way to look at this data and answer those questions?

This month, Horpedahl explains- and suggests we can worry less..

The Past, Present, and Future of Public Choice: Part I

By Peter J. Boettke

Sixty years ago, James Buchanan and Gordon Tullock published their landmark work, The Calculus of Consent, and founded the Public Choice Society.

In this Article, Peter Boettke takes us on a tour of the evolution of public choice scholarship and suggests new avenues for future research.

Elie Hassenfeld on GiveWell

When then-hedge fund manager Elie Hassenfeld began his philanthropic journey in 2006, he knew that he wanted to get the most charitable bang for his buck. He quickly realized, however, that detailed data on charitable impact simply didn't exist. So he and Holden Karnovsky founded GiveWell, an organization inspired by effective altruism that identifies the charities that save or improve lives the most for every dollar given. Listen as Hassenfeld, GiveWell's CEO, explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how GiveWell determines the small number of charities they recommend to achieve optimal impact. 

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• Peter Attia on Lifespan, Healthspan, and Outlive

• Michael Munger on How Adam Smith Solved the Trolley Problem

• Mike Munger Extra: The Agency to Act

• Lydia Dugdale Extra: Addressing Your Existential Angst

• Judge Glock Extra: Competition in Zoning Create More Housing?

• Anupam Bapu Jena on Random Acts of Medicine

• Roland Fryer Extra: Difference = Discrimination?

H.G. Wells, Technocracy, and Liberty

with Alberto Mingardi

Novelist H.G. Wells (1866-1946) is still beloved for some of the most brilliant stories of the early 20th century: from The Time Machine to The Invisible Man, quite a lot of his prose survived the test of time, has been brilliantly adapted by Hollywood and is still part of our collective imagination.

Still, Wells keeps being part of the contemporaneous discussion - albeit perhaps not so openly - as an early advocate for the scientific management of society. Close to the Fabians (with whom he had quarrels), a disciple of Thomas Huxley, Wells helped popularizing the idea that a better scientific understanding of reality needed planning.

For this very reason, he was a bete-noire of F.A. Hayek, who criticized him publicly and singled him out as an example of those conceited yet pusillanimous intellectuals he so often criticized.

Pre-registration is required, and we ask you to register only if you can be present for ALL sessions. Some readings must be acquired in advance. Click here to learn more.

Smith and Rousseau’s Competing Visions of Commercial Society

with Edward Harpham

This VRG will investigate the competing visions and critiques of commercial society found in the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith. The first two sessions focus upon close readings of Rousseau’s Second Discourse (1754), along with Adam Smith’s early review of the book, first published as a Letter to the Edinburgh Review in 1755-6. Session 2 will also discuss brief excerpts from Rousseau’s On the Social Contract (1762). The third and fourth sessions will discuss selections from Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations in light of Rousseau’s moral critique of commercial society. Among the topics to be discussed in these sessions will be the ideas of pity and sympathy, of benevolence and justice, the impartial spectator and the General Will, the division of labor, and the Natural History of Opulence.

Pre-registration is required, and we ask you to register only if you can be present for ALL sessions. Click here to learn more.