A look back at 2020. 🎉

EconLib Newsletter
January 2021

Dear friends,

At long last, 2020 is a year in the past. While for many this seemed the longest year ever, we have enjoyed sharing this- sometimes tumultuous-journey with you.

In this issue, we look back on some of the content you loved best in the last year. We also bring you NEW content for a NEW year-new Articles; a Virtual Reading Groups on our favorite villain, Bernard Mandeville; and a chance to read the entire Wealth of Nations together...on twitter.

Later this month. we'll debut the first edition of our quarterly #TeachEcon newsletter, with content specifically for those teaching economics, and available only to subscribers. Don't miss out; subscribe here.

Until next month, we wish you well, and look forward to seeing you online. Please share your suggestions and comments with us at [email protected]. We love to hear from you.

Subscribe to our NEW Quarterly #TeachEcon Newsletter today!

Forward

2020: The Year in Review

Climate Change: A Tragedy of the Commons?

Our most-read Article in 2020 was this piece by Pedro Schwartz.

What can an economist have to say about proposed climate change solutions? Click here to read more.

Zico and Ammo under Price Controls

Our EconLog posts reached millions of readers in 2020.

But this post was the most popular of all. Click here to read more about how Pierre Lemieux argues
we should think about "shortages" and "smurfage."

The Great Depression

The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics remains the web's go-to place for top-notch essays on key concepts in economics.

It's always interesting to see which entry attracted the most interest in a given year. (In 2019, it was Keynesian Economics.)

2020's most read entry was Gene Smiley's entry on the Great Depression.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the Pandemic

Podcasts became more popular than ever during the pandemic, so the most popular EconTalk podcast of 2020 should come as no surprise... It was Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the Pandemic.

(Stay tuned for the results of annual Listener Survey on social media...Coming soon!)

NEW Econlib Articles: January 2021

Markets and the Hidden Superpower of Online Education

by Michael L. Davis

Can online education be good education? If you ask most economists, you’ll probably get their favorite answer: it depends. To figure it out, they’ll tell you, you need to know whether the move to online has expanded or contracted the set of tools available to educators. Read More.

How to Break Up
the Two-Party Duopoly
by Arnold Kling

In America, we have come to treat the two-party system as a sacred tradition, almost as if it were written into the Constitution itself. Gehl and Porter argue instead that the two-party system is a product of the rules for determining the outcome of elections. The two parties have joined forces to ensure that these rules stifle competition. Read More.

Restart Your Engine:
How to Educate an American
by Mark C. Schug

Many people who support a vibrant free market in education with a limited role for government regret the demise of private education that has taken place over the past one hundred years. Many would prefer an education market made up of all private schools paid for by parents, family, friends, foundations, and charities...That said, we should remember that Adam Smith wrote favorably about a role for government in education. Read More.

Welcome to the #WealthofTweets

This IS the season of New Year's resolutions...

Have you been meaning to read the entirety of Adam Smith's An Inquiry into the Nature and Cause of the Wealth of Nations? Maybe you're intimidated by its length. Maybe you've heard about all the stuff on silver and herring...

Good news! Our friends at AdamSmithWorks are tweeting the ENTIRE book. Yes, the entire book, along with humorous commentary and insight. Don't miss it... Follow them on twitter and spend the next few months (it is really long) enjoying Smith's most famous work.

Join us for our next Virtual Reading Group:

BERNARD MANDEVILLE AND HIS GRUMBLING HIVE

with AdamSmithWorks's Sarah Skwire

Start your new year right! Plan on joining us for our next Virtual Reading Group!

Participation is offered at no-cost, and there is no need to be an expert on the topic for discussion! The only requirement is that participants be eager to read and engage in conversation.

Participants who successfully complete all sessions will receive an e-gift certificate from Amazon.com!

If you are interested, please visit our sister site here.

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