Dwayne Betts on MLK, the value of entrepreneurial failure, and new Articles on Elinor Ostrom, Helmut Schoek, and Henry George

View this email in your browser ([link removed])


** Econlib Newsletter
------------------------------------------------------------

June 2024
[link removed]

Dear friends,

We hope this month’s collection finds you well and enjoying the promise of summer. (It hasn’t quite decided to be so yet here in the Midwest…) We suspect that many of you, like us, think of summer as a time for leisure- and leisurely reading. To that end, we asked some of our contributors to share with us what they’re looking forward to reading, and what they might suggest for all of us.

From Pierre Lemieux:

James M. Buchanan, Why I, Too, Am Not a Conservative: The Normative Vision of Classical Liberalism ([link removed]) (Edward Elgar Publishers, 2006)

A book by a Nobel economist, also quite easy to read. Its implications are not necessarily all rosy, though, so it will be less stressing to read lying on the beach than climbing Mount Everest.

Matt Zwolinski and John Tomasi, The Individualists: Radicals, Reactionaries, and the Struggle for the Soul of Libertarianism ([link removed]) (Princeton University Press, 2023)

This intellectual history of libertarianism by two libertarian academics is a more risky choice, first because my recommendation stems from my having only started reading it, and secondly because it might lead you to reflect that libertarianism is too many things. The benefit is that you can be sure that what I’ve read--the introduction, conclusion, chapter 1 and chapter 2--are well worth the detour. And if worse comes to worst, you can stop reading at that point, and spend the rest of your vacation just fishing on the brook (don’t forget your pistol).

From Kevin Corcoran:

The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements ([link removed]) by Eric Hoffer. This is a book I've read several times, but it always seems to find its way back into my hands for a re-read. These days, it seems like more and more people try to find meaning and purpose in their lives through political movements or social activism, which makes Hoffer's analysis of mass movements and true believers seem all the more relevant. [P.S. Be on the lookout for a Virtual Reading Group ([link removed]) on this title led by Alberto Mingardi later this year!]

Unchecked and Unbalanced: How the Discrepancy Between Knowledge and Power Caused the Financial Crisis and Threatens Democracy ([link removed]) , by Arnold Kling. Kling prefaces his invocations of this book with "the widely unread..." and I'm doing my small part to ameliorate that. While the subtitle might give an impression that the book is chiefly addressing the 2008 financial crisis and is thus "old news", that would be misleading. The 2008 crisis is simply exhibit A of a much larger social problem, one that continues to be relevant to this day.

From David Henderson:

Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson ([link removed]) . Even though this book, which has sold over 1 million copies, was written in 1946, it reads as if it were written yesterday. The various economic fallacies Hazlitt takes apart are as relevant now as they were then.

David R. Henderson and Charles L. Hooper, Making Great Decisions in Business and Life ([link removed]) . This book applies economic thinking, decision theory, and common sense to help the reader make better decisions in his or her work life and personal life.

Special Offer! We’d like to hear what you are looking forward to reading (or perhaps hoping to join a Virtual Reading Group to discuss…) Let us know at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , and we’ll send a copy of Henderson and Hooper’s book to some lucky readers!

Of course, there are plenty of new things to read and listen to below. We hope you find them valuable, and we thank you for exploring economics with us. Until next month!


** NEW Econlib Articles
------------------------------------------------------------

June 2024

Self-Governance As

Co-Production of Rules

By Vlad Tarko

Examples of tragedies of the commons are many, while solutions tend to be of one sort- government intervention. It’s also tempting to label any kind of social problem as a tragedy of the commons. In this Article, Vlad Tarko reminds us that Elinor Ostrom offers a better way- self-government.
Read More ([link removed])
[link removed]
[link removed]

Helmut Schoeck's Envy: A Theory of Social Behaviour

By Art Carden

In this new Liberty Classic. Art Carden returns to Schoeck’s compelling case for envy as a beneficial social passion, even with its sometimes ugly elements.
Read More ([link removed])

Entrepreneurial Failure:

Fault or Feature


** By John Estill
------------------------------------------------------------

You may have heard the adage that we learn more from our failures than from our mistakes. Entrepreneur and economist Jack Estill argues that’s very true, and very important to the economy.
Read More ([link removed])
[link removed]
[link removed]


** An Exploration of Some Consequences to Taxing Only Land
------------------------------------------------------------

By Paul Forrester

While the work of Henry George had faded from influence by the 1930s, he is beginning to receive new interest as housing affordability becomes a more important policy issue. In this Liberty Classic, Forrester illustrates George’s ideal single tax on land and some of its implications for today.
Read More ([link removed])


** EconTalk: Conversation for the Curious
------------------------------------------------------------
[link removed]

Injustice and the “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” (with Dwayne Betts)

When poet, lawyer, and MacArthur Fellow Dwayne Betts ([link removed]) was imprisoned for nine years at the age of 16 for carjacking, he only wept twice. One of those times was when he read Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." In this powerful conversation with EconTalk's Russ Roberts ([link removed]) , Betts explains why he cried, what he learned from King, King's urgency in the face of injustice, and Betts's thoughts on writing the introduction to a new volume of King's letter.

Explore More ([link removed])

More Recent Episodes & Extras:
* The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of the Covid Vaccine (with Vinay Prasad) ([link removed])
* Zach Weinersmith Extra: Space Age Utopianism ([link removed])
* Purpose, Pleasure, and Meaning in a World Without Work (with Nicholas Bostrom) ([link removed])
* Jeremy Weber Extra: Slow Down and THINK ([link removed])
* Glenn Loury Tells All ([link removed])
* Living with the Constitution (with A.J. Jacobs) ([link removed])

[link removed] [link removed] [link removed] [link removed]

Copyright © 2024, Liberty Fund, Inc. All rights reserved.

11301 North Meridian Street, Carmel, IN 46032-4564

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences ([link removed]) or unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) .

This email was sent to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
why did I get this? ([link removed]) unsubscribe from this list ([link removed]) update subscription preferences ([link removed])
Liberty Fund, Inc. . 11301 N Meridian St . Carmel, IN 46032-4564 . USA