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1 week ago | 
econlib.org | Jon Murphy |Pierre Lemieux |Scott Sumner
Mercy has long been a hallmark of a just legal system. Judges are often given considerable leeway in determining punishment for a crime (except in cases like mandatory minimums or “three-strike” legislation) for exactly this reason. Extenuating circumstances can result in a lower punishment for some criminals than others who commit certain crimes, and so on. Some claim that mercy is a weakness, however. They want no mercy, at least for certain crimes.
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1 month ago | 
econlib.org | Jon Murphy |Scott Sumner |Pierre Lemieux
Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all people on the planet are part of a global community. The philosophy of cosmopolitanism is very broad, sometimes advocating universal rules, or that we should all have the same partiality to people far away than we do closer to us. By appending the modifier “methodological” to “cosmopolitanism,” I mean to invoke a meaning similar to the philosophical one, but more limited to just one’s analytical method.
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1 month ago | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |Jon Murphy
The new issue of Regulation (Vol. 48, No. 1 [Spring 2025]) features, under the rubric “From the Past,” my review of Anthony de Jasay’s book Justice and Its Surroundings (Liberty Fund, 2002). This book may appeal more to political philosophers than to economists, compared with Against Politics (Routledge, 1997) which I recently reviewed for Econlib.
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1 month ago | 
econlib.org | Jon Murphy |Pierre Lemieux |Kevin Corcoran
As I write this, much digital ink is being spilled on inflationary pressures from Trump’s latest round of tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. These are our three biggest trading partners, representing vast amounts of goods over many industries and sectors, affecting both American consumers and American firms alike. Price concerns are legitimate. But we must differentiate between changes in prices and inflation.
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1 month ago | 
econlib.org | Jon Murphy |Scott Sumner |Pierre Lemieux
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the quasi-official advisory board led by Elon Musk to recommend workforce reductions and cost-savings in the Federal Government, has a laudable goal. There certainly is a lot of waste in the government. Fraud, too. There are probably many tasks that the Feds currently do that states or private entities could do better. Furthermore, without substantial changes, the Federal budget deficit is unsustainable.
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1 month ago | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |Scott Sumner |Jon Murphy
Despite containing useful information, a Financial Times story makes some puzzling statements (“Trump Nominee Unites Right and Left with Tough Antitrust View,” Financial Times, March 7, 2025):Among the loyalists selected by Donald Trump to staff his second administration, Gail Slater stands out for a different reason: she unites right and left with a sceptical view of big business.
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2 months ago | 
econlib.org | David Henderson |Jon Murphy |Pierre Lemieux
I caught a little snippet on Fox News Channel in the last day or two of RFK, Jr. in the White House after he was confirmed as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS.) I was already nervous about him. When I hear someone who is used to advocating government coercion say that he wants to “make America health again,” I worry that he wants to regulate what various food producers can put in our food. When I saw that recent snippet, I got nervous for another reason.
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2 months ago | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |David Henderson |Jon Murphy
I had my first, short conversation with DeepSeek V3 yesterday, January 28, after trying several times to create an account. The Chinese chatbot has been hot news for a few days and even caused a big drop in AI-related stock prices. I asked DeepSeek the question that had been on my mind since reading that there were some topics “he” would not touch with a six-foot silicon pole. My first question plunged into the crux of the matter:PL: Who is the stronger daddy? Xi Jinping or Donald Trump?
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
econlib.org | Richard B. McKenzie |Gordon Tullock |Scott Sumner |Jon Murphy
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, co-chairs of President-Elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, intend to reduce federal spending by $2 trillion (over an undisclosed time period), along with a substantial reduction in the federal workforce. Musk, Ramaswamy, and their army of unpaid volunteer cost-cutters will likely fall miserably short of their admirable goals—for reasons that have been developed among public-choice economists over decades.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Scott Sumner |Pierre Lemieux |Jon Murphy
Some bloggers take bets on the ideas they express in their writing. A few have been quite successful. I have chosen not to do so (thus far.) In some cases, those who refrain from betting are criticized for not having the courage of their convictions. I don’t believe that criticism is reasonable, and I’ll explain why in this post. Before doing so, let me emphasize that I am not opposed to betting, and do not criticize others for doing so.
