Economists typically identify money by the extent to which an asset satisfies three functions. First, it needs to be a medium of exchange, meaning that you give it up when you buy goods or services, and you can receive it when you sell goods or services. Second, it needs to be a unit of account, meaning that you…
Mariana Mortágua on why crypto-assets are not money
Mariana Mortágua on why crypto-assets are not money
26 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, financial economics, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetary economics
‘Contemporary Law and Economics,’ by Adam Chilton, Joshua C. Macey & Mila Versteeg
24 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, law and economics, Richard Posner, Ronald Coase

What does it mean to be a law & economics (L&E) scholar? It can’t require a Ph.D. in economics. Richard Posner doesn’t have one. He didn’t even major in economics as an undergraduate, preferring English—as did his Chicago colleagues Douglas Baird and Diane Wood. It can’t require a law degree, either, or Ronald Coase, William…
‘Contemporary Law and Economics,’ by Adam Chilton, Joshua C. Macey & Mila Versteeg
Was 1800 (approximately) A Pivotal Year In Human History? Robert Fogel, Francis Fukuyama, And Deirdre McCloskey All Seem To Think So
24 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth miracles, history of economic thought Tags: The Great Enrichment
Robert Fogel is a Nobel Prize Winning Economist. Here is something he said recently:”Technology rescued humankind from centuries of physical maladies and malnutrition, Mr. Fogel argues. Before the 19th century (1800), most people were caught in an endless cycle of subsistence farming.”See Technology Advances; Humans Supersize.Francis Fukuyama, author of the famous book The End of…
Was 1800 (approximately) A Pivotal Year In Human History? Robert Fogel, Francis Fukuyama, And Deirdre McCloskey All Seem To Think So
Quotation of the Day…
23 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetarism, monetary economics
Tweet… is from page 129 of my late, great teacher Fritz Machlup’s May 1960 Review of Economics and Statistics paper, “Another View of Cost-Push and Demand-Pull Inflation“: It is clear that an inflation of effective demand is a necessary condition not only for a demand-pull inflation of consumer prices but also for a cost-push inflation.…
Quotation of the Day…
‘The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria,’ by Theodore Schultz
23 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, survivor principle

The most valuable skill in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) may not be coding, prompt engineering, or any of the other competencies appearing in job listings. It may be the ability to figure out which skills will be valuable next. Half a century ago, Theodore Schultz had a name for something much like this:…
‘The Value of the Ability to Deal with Disequilibria,’ by Theodore Schultz
Are Banking Systems Inherently Unstable? | @GeorgeSelgin | Hayek Program…
22 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, business cycles, economic history, economics of regulation, great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, law and economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: monetary policy
SIEPR Economic Summit 2026 | California Wealth Tax
22 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economic growth, economic history, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: California, taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment
Defining the Unemployment Rate
22 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, history of economic thought, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, unemployment
An updated version of our Marginal Revolution University (MRU) video on defining the unemployment rate. Free to use for anyone but goes best, of course, with Modern Principles of Economics, the best principles of economics textbook. The post Defining the Unemployment Rate appeared first on Marginal REVOLUTION.
Defining the Unemployment Rate
“Why Was the Fed Created?” with @GeorgeSelgin
20 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic history, financial economics, great depression, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, monetary economics, politics - USA, Public Choice, rentseeking Tags: monetary policy
The Costs and Benefits of Monopoly
19 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation
Rent control according to Seinfeld
18 Oct 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, income redistribution, law and economics, property rights, Public Choice, rentseeking, urban economics Tags: rent control
My ECONS101 lecture today covered price controls, and as examples we discussed the minimum wage (as an example of a price floor) and rent control (as an example of a price ceiling). 611 more words
Rent control according to Seinfeld
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