Books, podcasts, and Substacks, oh my!

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Econlib Newsletter
March 2023

Does the dawn of spring (perhaps?) have you dreaming of spring break travel? If so, Mikayla Novak's new article is for you. Whether you're traveling for leisure, business, or learning, Novak argues that travel tourism plays an important role in a classically liberal economy. Explore this entrepreneurial element, and then find a NEW Liberty Classic, and two new book reviews. We hope your to-read stack will remain as dangerously tall as ours!

And if all these new pieces haven't expanded that reading list yet, keep scrolling for opportunities to read and discuss environmentalism, 19th-century American literature, and Shakespeare together, along with some of our favorite Substacks.

Until next month, stay well, and stay curious.

NEW Econlib Articles
March 2023
[link removed]

Liberty Tours: Why Tourism Matters to Liberty
By Mikayla Novak

"Alongside arts, film, literature, music, and sports, tourism is a talismanic marker of enrichment increasingly enjoyed by the many. Not only is tourism economically significant, but its non-economic implications are profound. Indeed, we should consider the potential role of traveling and tourism in shaping liberal worldviews of cosmopolitanism." Read More ([link removed]) .

The Long, Hard Road to "Longtermism"
By James Broughel

"Economists tend to view discounting in social policy as a natural extension of the necessity to discount in financial analysis. They are taught to respect individuals’ preferences, too. Absent market failures, these preferences should result in rationally self-interested behavior that leads to an efficient allocation of resources, according to standard textbook treatments. Therefore, because many people exhibit a natural time preference, analysts should incorporate those preferences into their analysis.

It is under this backdrop of disagreement that Oxford philosopher Will MacAskill has released an important book, What We Owe the Future, which makes an unabashed case for “longtermism.”
Read More ([link removed]) . ([link removed])
[link removed]

Rules for Non-Radicals
By M. Scott King

"Life is better together. By taking advantage of specialization and the division of labor, the wealth generated by modern economies defies comprehension. But this level of prosperity is not the default state for humanity. The reason we can achieve such high standards of living is because of the market rules we follow." These rules are the subject of M. Scott King's new Liberty Classic on Buchanan and Tullock's The Calculus of Consent. Read More ([link removed]) .

Financial Policy
By Arnold Kling

Arnold Kling looks back at Niall Ferguson's 2001 book with longing for a research program that never emerged. "The focus of government on credit allocation receives no attention in economics textbooks. Ignoring this fundamental purpose of financial policy, economists act as if central banks exist solely to conduct monetary policy for stabilization purpose. The textbooks, if they do not completely overlook financial regulation, mention it in a hand-wavy way as helping to keep the financial system sound.

In an alternate history of economic thought, the paradigm that emerges from The Cash Nexus would have kicked off a substantial research program in financial policy."

Read More ([link removed]) .
What We're Reading Now
[link removed]



Welcome to our NEW feature in which we share some of what we are reading this month. We'd love to hear what you're reading, too. Drop us a line at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , or share with us on social media. We love to hear from you!

Some books:
* Edith Wharton's classic novel of Gilded Age New York, The House of Mirth ([link removed]) , for this AdamSmithWorks Virtual Reading Group ([link removed]) .
* Virgil Storr and Ginny Choi''s Do Markets Corrupt Our Morals? ([link removed]) for No Due Date with Peter Boettke ([link removed])
* We're thinking about Sophie's World ([link removed]) , after listening to the recent EconTalk with Dwayne Betts ([link removed]) . Anyone want to read it with us?

Some Substacks we follow:
* Adam Mastroianni'sExperimental History ([link removed])
+ ICYMI, Mastroianni was a guest on EconTalk last month ([link removed]) discussing the peer review process.
* Rob Henderson ([link removed]) on human nature, psychology, social class, luxury beliefs, and more.
* Hannah Ritchie's Sustainability by Numbers ([link removed])
+ ICYMI, Ritchie joined Russ Roberts on EconTalk in January. ([link removed])
+ Of related interested to our environmentalists, we have a Virtual Reading Group ([link removed]) starting next week on the Foundation of Modern Environmentalism.

EconTalk: Conversations for the Curious

Omer Moav on the Emergence of the State

Since at least Adam Smith, the common wisdom has been that the transition from hunter-gathering to farming allowed the creation of the State. Farming, so went the theory, led to agricultural surplus, and that surplus is the prerequisite for taxation and a State. But economist Omer Moav ([link removed]) of Reichman University argues that it wasn't farming but the farming of a particular kind of crop (but not others) that led to hierarchy and the State. Moav explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts ([link removed]) storability is the key dimension that allows for taxation and a State. The conversation includes a discussion of why it's important to understand the past and the challenges of confirming or refuting theories about history. Explore more ([link removed]) .

More Recent Episodes:
* Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind ([link removed])
* Marco Ramos on Misunderstanding Mental Illness ([link removed])
* Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen ([link removed])
* Sam Harris on Meditation, Mindfulness, and Morality ([link removed])

Upcoming Virtual Reading Group


** One Fell Swoop:
Reading All of Shakespeare’s Plays
------------------------------------------------------------


Our new series of Shakespeare ([link removed]) Virtual Reading Groups will explore all of Shakespeare's plays over the course of about 3 years. We'll look at one play a month, with Liberty Fund's Sarah Skwire leading one 90 minute discussion for each play. You'll sign up for each session separately, so you can choose your favorites, or complete your "to be read" list, or just come when you can.

* 1-April 2023: One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare’s Plays - Romeo and Juliet ([link removed])
* 2-May 2023: One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare’s Plays - Coriolanus ([link removed])
* 3-June 2023: One Fell Swoop: Reading All of Shakespeare’s Plays - A Midsummer Night’s Dream ([link removed])

[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
[link removed]
Copyright © 2023, 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]) .

============================================================