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 (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 (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 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 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, 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.Â
From David Henderson:
Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson. 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. 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], 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!
