Post Tagged 'Valentine’s Day'

February 12, 2026

Marriage: The Free Market We Take for Granted

Western novels, songs, and films make many assumptions about love and marriage. Yet one underlying expectation continues to shock the non-Western world and once shocked our ancestors. This expectation is dispositive spousal consent: the belief that a marriage is valid because two individuals freely choose one another, rather than because their families or political authorities approve the match. Continue Reading...

February 14, 2022

Terrorists and your valentine have more in common than you think

Economics is the study of human action; it’s the study of individuals making choices. As a result, we can use the “economic way of thinking” to understand the decisions people make when it comes to all types of behavior, including dating and marriage, Spring break and Vegas vacations, and, yes, even why terrorists commit acts of violence or voluntarily die for their cause. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2016

I, Rose: Networks of exchange and the love they deserve

In Leonard Reed’s famous essay, “I, Pencil,” he marvels over the cooperation and collaboration involved in the assembly of a simple pencil — a complex coordination that is quite miraculously uncoordinated. Continue Reading...