Over the last 80 years, the world rankings of Hong Kong and Argentina: Resource-poor Hong Kong’s relatively laissez-faire free market has taken it from poverty to riches. Resource-rich Argentina’s experiments in statism have taken it from prosperity to decline and semi-functionality. In this Wall Street Journal/Heritage ranking, Hong Kong is currently first in the world […]
Argentina, Hong Kong, and the psychology of belief Read More »
My essay, Defending Shylock: Productive Work in Financial Markets, is now available in Kindle format. In this essay, I discuss the great value that financial markets add to an economy and the nature of the intellectual work that underlays them. In addition, I argue against the critics of financial markets who argue that those who
Defending Shylock — Kindle version Read More »
Why did the modern economic revolution in production and trade first happen in north-western Europe? At the APEE conference, Deirdre McCloskey delivered a plenary address based on her new book, Bourgeois Dignity: Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World. Her argument is that neither material resources nor technology nor capital accumulation nor geographical factors drove
APEE update — Deirdre McCloskey Read More »
I’m looking forward to learning new things at my APEE session tomorrow on “Hayek and Rand on Values.” The panelists are Emily Chamlee-Wright, Steve Horwitz, Edward Hudgins, and William Kline, each of whom knows a lot about both Hayek and Rand. At the opening banquet tonight, we heard an address from Lin Ostrom, 2009 Nobel
APEE update — Elinor Ostrom Read More »
First published in 1912 ago, Mises’s The Theory of Money and Credit makes this observation: “Gold is not an ideal basis for a monetary system. Like all human creations, the gold standard is not free from shortcomings; but in the existing circumstances there is no other way of emancipating the monetary system from the changing
Mises on the relative imperfections of the gold standard Read More »
I interviewed Dr. David R. Henderson after his talk at Rockford entitled “Seven Myths of Free Markets.” Professor Henderson teaches economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and is a research fellow with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Dr. Henderson also explains the surprising, true origin of “the dismal science.” For more about Professor
David Henderson on seven myths of free markets Read More »
For this year’s conference of the Association of Private Enterprise Education, I am organizing and chairing a session on two giants of the twentieth century — Friedrich Hayek and Ayn Rand — with four scholars comparing their views on values and political economy. Topic: Hayek and Rand on Values Chair: Stephen Hicks, Ph.D., Rockford College,
Hayek and Rand on values — APEE 2011 conference Read More »
Dr. David R. Henderson is an associate professor of economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California and a research fellow with Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. Professor Henderson is the author of The Joy of Freedom: An Economist’s Odyssey and the editor of the widely used Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. He was previously a
David Henderson to speak at Rockford College Read More »