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2 months ago | 
econlib.org | Art Carden |James M. Buchanan |Pierre Lemieux |David Henderson
Public Choice, the economist James M. Buchanan explained, is built on the “homely” proposition that politicians are just like the rest of us. We call this “behavioral symmetry.” They have their own interests, and they try to satisfy those interests. Furthermore, we can understand people’s behavior in the voting booth and the bureau using the same tools we use to understand their behavior in the supermarket and the boardroom.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
econlib.org | VANCE GINN |James M. Buchanan |David Henderson |Kevin Corcoran
The federal government’s $36 trillion debt isn’t just a fiscal issue—it’s a direct threat to economic freedom and prosperity. Every dollar borrowed is taken from us and future generations, limiting opportunities for growth and innovation. But there are more poor policies at the federal, state, and local levels stifling opportunity, which should be addressed in 2025.
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Jan 6, 2025 | 
giftedunderachievers.substack.com | James M. Buchanan |Carrie McConkey
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -57:54Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. A bright spark entered the Gifted Underachiever clubhouse, and her name is Carrie McConkey. For many years, Carrie thought that her crazy career background made no sense. After working in the fields of interior design, fashion design, college recruiting, human resources, fundraising, image consulting, and many more, Carrie found her way to freelance writing—and everything finally fell into place.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Byron Carson |James M. Buchanan |Adam Smith |David Ricardo
A Liberty Classic Book Review of Cost and Choice: An Inquiry in Economic Theory, by James M. Buchanan. In less than one hundred pages, James Buchanan excoriates economists—classical and modern—for their unrecognized confusions about cost. More than an insular academic debate, Cost and Choice: An Inquiry in Economic Theory develops a biting set of logical tools people—economists, philosophers, students, and laymen—can use to better understand human behavior in private and public settings.
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Nov 30, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |James M. Buchanan |Scott Sumner |David Henderson
Earlier this week, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he intends to implement on his first day in office some of the tariffs he had threatened.
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Jul 25, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Edward Lopez |James M. Buchanan |Chelsea Follett |Pierre Lemieux
In this Future of Liberty discussion, Governor Mitch Daniels interviews Philip Hamburger, legal scholar and founder of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, about the administrative state. The two agree that federal agencies have committed at least two sets of sins. First, they have unduly and unnecessarily violated the rights of citizens, and second they have done so on shadowy constitutional grounds. Professor Hamburger attributes the rise of the administrative state to two intertwined factors.
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Jul 5, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Jon Murphy |James M. Buchanan |David Henderson |Pierre Lemieux
Scott Sumner recently had a post discussing a potential relationship between trade deficits and government debt. To sum up, since debt must come from savings, if domestic savings are too low relative to domestic investment, then foreign savings must come in and make up the difference; the United States imports foreign savings.
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May 22, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |James M. Buchanan |Kevin Corcoran |Scott Sumner
A strange story echoed in Newsweek suggests that many people have not reflected on how democratic politics works, or perhaps they confuse politics as they wish it should be with what it actually is. The magazine writes (“Donald Trump Threatened With New Investigation,” May 11, 2024):Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, has threatened former President Donald Trump with a new investigation into his reported promises to Big Oil.
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Apr 1, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |James M. Buchanan |Gordon Tullock |David Hume
A Liberty Classics Book Review of Against Politics: On Government, Anarchy, and Order, by Anthony de Jasay. We cannot be against politics, especially in a democratic regime; isn’t that obvious? In his 1997 book Against Politics: On Government, Anarchy, and Order, Anthony de Jasay led a frontal charge against this commonly accepted idea.
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Mar 28, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |James M. Buchanan |Art Carden |Walter Donway
It is not because a law has been democratically and duly adopted that it necessarily exemplifies the rule of law. It is not because democratically elected politicians govern that governing is good. One current example is given by the US and EU governments siding against Apple and in favor of its developers (outside suppliers) and competitors, under some antitrust “laws” that pretend to determine what consumers want.
