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More or Less Economic Planning?
Enduring Arguments from Sweden By Benny Carlson
"After the 1929 outbreak of the Great Depression, demand for economic planning—in contrast to market “anarchy”—advanced in many countries. The 1930s was an era of populism, nationalism, protectionism, government intervention, and attempts to create planned economies... During the 1920s, the socialist calculation debate unfolded in German on the European continent, triggered by Ludwig von Mises’s (1881-1973) work Gemeinwirtschaft... In another country, an intense debate on economic planning played out parallel to, but seemingly not inspired by Mises, Lange, Hayek or Durbin. This country is Sweden. Read More.
The Sky is Falling (Again):
Two Cheers for Decadence, and a Third for a Return to Capitalism! By Nikolai Wenzel
"Douthat’s case is ultimately overstated and simplistic. But I get it. I really do. I too am horrified by much of the contemporary turn, and I think I would greatly enjoy sitting with Douthat in leather wingback chairs, sipping bourbon, and belly-aching over the decline of Western civilization." Read More.
Liberalism and its Enemies: Pluckrose and Lindsay
by Arnold Kling
"[Pluckrose and Lindsay]’s model fits closely the rhetoric and actions of those who have popularized and implemented postmodernism in the form of Social Justice activism. [Their] approach is one of cognitive empathy. That is, their book can help us understand the ideas of the activists on their own terms." Read More.
Highlights from EconLog
Do Externalities Matter for Economic Analysis?
by Rosolino Candela
"In the analysis of market processes, the concept of externalities has long invoked strong public policy implications among economists regarding the role of government in addressing their alleged presence, or lack thereof.
It is for this reason that analyses of externalities have preoccupied economists, at least since A.C. Pigou. The more important question, however, is how do they matter for economics?Read More.
What's the difference between invention and innovation? Could it be that innovation--the process of making a breakthrough invention available, affordable, and reliable--is actually the hard part? Matt Ridley argues that we give too much credit to inventors and not enough to innovators--those who refine and improve an invention to make it valuable to users. Listen Here.
And don't miss The Wokingest Folks Ever, our podcast episode Extra to complement and continue the conversation.
Our parent organization, Liberty Fund, publishes the Concise Encylopedia of Economics in hardcover and paperback, an indispensable resource for any classroom or personal library.
The CEE is also available online at Econlib, and the online version includes several online-only entries, including:
