Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative by Jennifer Burns 592 pages Farrar, Straus and Giroux Published: Nov 2023 Released two weeks ago, Jennifer Burns’s “Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative” is the most significant biography of Friedman ever published. Burns is an associate professor of history at Stanford and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. She […]
Review of “Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative” by Jennifer Burns
Review of “Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative” by Jennifer Burns
29 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics
Understanding Fiscal Inflation — Keynote Speech by Eric Leeper
22 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, monetary economics Tags: monetary policy
George Selgin on the New Deal and Recovery (and Relief and Reform)
18 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, great depression, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, monetary economics, unemployment
TweetWant to get a few hours’ worth of solid learning in less than 35 enjoyable minutes? Listen to my Mercatus Center colleague David Beckworth’s podcast (from October 2022) with George Selgin on the New Deal. Seriously. It will be 34-plus minutes very well spent. George’s book – False Dawn – is forthcoming from the University…
George Selgin on the New Deal and Recovery (and Relief and Reform)
Milton Friedman: The Last Conservative | Hoover Institution
15 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, budget deficits, business cycles, economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, labour economics, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics, unemployment Tags: monetary policy
Why Is There Divergence Between the United States and Europe?
11 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, currency unions, economic growth, macroeconomics
In economics, convergence theory is the common-sense observation that poor countries – in general – should grow faster than rich countries. But a general principle sometimes has exceptions, and that’s why I put together my anti-convergence club. If you look at members of that club, you’ll notice that when rich countries grow faster than poor […]
Why Is There Divergence Between the United States and Europe?
Book Presentation with John Cochrane: “The Fiscal Theory of the Price Le…
09 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in budget deficits, business cycles, econometerics, economic growth, economic history, Euro crisis, fiscal policy, global financial crisis (GFC), great depression, great recession, history of economic thought, inflation targeting, macroeconomics, Milton Friedman, monetarism, monetary economics, public economics Tags: monetary policy
Reflections on the TCU Capitalism versus Socialism Debate
08 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic growth, economic history, economics of bureaucracy, growth disasters, growth miracles, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, privatisation, property rights, Public Choice, public economics Tags: economics of socialism, Sweden
Two days ago at Texas Christian University, I debated Scott Sehon, chair of Bowdoin College’s Philosophy Department, on Capitalism versus Socialism. (Video forthcoming eventually). My opening statement was a slight variation on the one I wrote for an earlier debate on the same topic with Elizabeth Bruenig. Sehon’s opening statement was adapted from his Socialism:…
Reflections on the TCU Capitalism versus Socialism Debate
Caplan-Singer Debate Video
05 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economics of education, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, human capital, income redistribution, labour economics, labour supply, macroeconomics, occupational choice, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and entrepreneurship, taxation and investment, taxation and labour supply
A year ago, Jonah Franks, who runs Public Intellectuals for Charity, organized a debate between me and Peter Singer on “Do the rich pay their fair share?” I already posted my opening statement, my reflections on the debate, along with two follow-ups on Singer’s “Noble Lie.” The debate video itself, however, was gated for paying…
Caplan-Singer Debate Video
More Evidence for Trump’s Corporate Tax Reform, Part I
03 Nov 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic growth, entrepreneurship, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
I’m very critical of bad policies we got during the Trump years, most notably profligacy and protectionism. But I shower praise on the good policies, such as the 2017 tax legislation (especially the lower corporate tax rate and the curtailing of the state and local tax deduction). Today, we’re going to focus on the positive. […]
More Evidence for Trump’s Corporate Tax Reform, Part I
Finding external balance
26 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in business cycles, economic growth, fiscal policy, international economics, macroeconomics, monetary economics
That was the title of a ten page piece published last week by the ANZ economics team (chief economist Sharon Zollner and one of her offsiders, who appears to be a temporary secondee from the Reserve Bank). You can find a link to the paper here. The gist is captured in the paper’s summary I […]
Finding external balance
Ireland’s Corporate Tax and the Laffer Curve
19 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, fiscal policy, macroeconomics, Public Choice, public economics Tags: taxation and investment
About 15 years ago, I narrated a three-part series on the Laffer Curve. Here’s Part II, which looks at real-world evidence. About halfway through the video (3:15-3:55), I discuss what happened when Ireland dramatically lowered its corporate tax rate. The net result was an increase in tax revenue. But not just by a small amount. […]
Ireland’s Corporate Tax and the Laffer Curve
“There Is A Design Problem In Climate Policy” Featuring Dr. Roger Pielke Jr.
05 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, economic growth, economics of natural disasters, macroeconomics
On Wednesday in Denver, we had the pleasure of joining Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. (UC Boulder) and Chris Wright, CEO and Chairman of Liberty Energy for a live discussion as part of Liberty Energy’s “Liberty and Energy” Presentation Series. Roger is a Professor in the Environmental Studies department at the University of Colorado Boulder and […]
“There Is A Design Problem In Climate Policy” Featuring Dr. Roger Pielke Jr.
Why Sweden Isn’t an Example of Socialism
04 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in economic growth, economic history, economics of regulation, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, labour economics, macroeconomics, welfare reform Tags: Sweden
When I meet Americans who self-identify as “socialists,” it is quite uncommon for them to advocate the abolition of private property and the “collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods”–which is the dictionary definition of socialism. Instead most of the American “socialists” I meet favor a more…
Why Sweden Isn’t an Example of Socialism
Some charts on our underperforming economy
04 Oct 2023 Leave a comment
in economic growth, macroeconomics
It is election season, and since the performance of the economy enables (or disables) so much of what political parties want to do, or to spend, it is worth having a look at a few charts. There have been plenty on inflation this year, and plenty of fiscal policy in just the last few weeks. […]
Some charts on our underperforming economy
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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