August 14, 2018
Socialism: What’s in a Word?
Chris Freiman, following a suggestion by Jason Brennan, has just published a good post on socialism, showing that socialists are not entitled to define socialism by its goals and aspirations,…
All posts in: Economics
August 13, 2018
On “Real” Socialism
As children die of hunger in Venezuela, an old line is making a comeback: it’s not real socialism! One version of this reply alleges that socialism requires that workers directly…
July 31, 2018
Reason is the slave of the atavisms
Moral intuitions are not often, and may be almost never, arrived at through reason. That may be a problem, when economic institutions evolve faster than our moral intuitions.
July 12, 2018
Do Public Libraries Vindicate Socialism?
Democratic Socialist Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently published a tweet that’s closing in on 200,000 likes: “If you think the GOP is terrified of my politics now, just wait until…
May 25, 2018
The Case Against Education: Some Thoughts
My favorite book from this past year is Bryan Caplan’s The Case Against Education. Bryan Caplan is my intellectual hero and he’s probably influenced my views on politics and economics…
May 22, 2018
Against International Law’s Economic Agnosticism
International law does not generally protect economic liberties. By economic liberties I mean private property rights and freedom of contract, including the individual right to trade. Even if we could…