Human flourishing

March 11, 2019

Socialists cannot divorce good intentions from sound economics

Corey Robin has contributed an interesting essay to the Boston Review’s forum ‘Economics After Neoliberalism’. I am reluctant to enter into debates on, “Neoliberalism”, a term so nebulous and variegated in its usage as to render it useless as anything other than an all-purpose cudgel with which to browbeat others in middlebrow magazines (See Phil Magness on its pejorative origins). Continue Reading...

March 04, 2019

How to talk and listen towards a free and virtuous society

Reading Dylan Pahman’s recent piece, Don’t write off young ‘socialists’, got me thinking about talking and listening. We all talk and listen, with varying degrees of success, every day. Most of the time I do each well enough to muddle through learning something from others while imparting some sliver of wisdom in between boisterous declarations of my opinions and preferences. Continue Reading...

February 22, 2019

For nature and neighbor: Economic lessons from an Icelandic goat farmer

For over 1,100 years, a unique “heritage breed” of Icelandic goats has sustained the country’s population, serving as a staple of cuisine for centuries. Yet as dietary needs and preferences shifted, the goat population slowly dwindled, reaching the brink of extinction at under 100 animals by the late 20th century. Continue Reading...

February 20, 2019

Democrats proposed subsidies do not make the rent any less high

Democratic Senators and Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Cory Booker have both recently proposed legislation to address the issue of rising housing costs. Senator Harris’ bill ‘The Rent Relief Act’ and Senator Booker’s bill ‘Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, and Equity Act’ both focus on assisting people who pay more than 30% of their gross income on rent or, in the case of Senator Harris’s bill, rent and utilities. Continue Reading...

February 13, 2019

New Elinor Ostrom Women in Economics video

Over at Marginal Revolution University they have kicked off a new series of videos on Women in Economics: Women in Economics highlights the groundbreaking and inspiring work of female economists — not only to recognize the important work they’ve done but to also share their inspirational journeys. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2019

Crushing the poor: agricultural tariffs and subsidies

There are a lot of campaigns and organizations dedicated to alleviating extreme poverty found in the developing world. These same groups advocate for the provision of what the material poor often lack: clean water, decent housing, financial capital, nutrition, etc. Continue Reading...

January 21, 2019

Martin Luther King Jr., moral philosopher

Almost everyone has read Letter from Birmingham Jail – a brilliant essay. Just about everyone recognizes Martin Luther King Jr. as a great civil rights activist and orator. Which he certainly was. Continue Reading...

January 18, 2019

Socialism and the vicious circle of child marriage

She was the brightest girl in her class, and 13-year-old Maureen dreamed of an education that would get her out of the poverty that bogged down her hometown of Mudzi, Mashonaland, Zimbabwe. Continue Reading...

January 14, 2019

Toward ‘humanomics’: Deirdre McCloskey on honoring the world of human creation

In her transformative Bourgeois Era trilogy, economist Deirdre McCloskey challenged our popular theories about the causes of our newfound economic prosperity, arguing that it sprung not from new systems, tools, or materials, but rather the ideas, virtues, and rhetoric behind them. Continue Reading...

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