An excerpt from the conclusion of *Unbeatable*
A Friendly Appeal to the Unconvinced
A Friendly Appeal to the Unconvinced
14 May 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, constitutional political economy, development economics, economic history, liberalism Tags: The Great Enrichment
The Great Enrichment
12 May 2026 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: The Great Enrichment
Resourceful Earth Day: Fred Smith on Julian Simon
23 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, energy economics, environmental economics, environmentalism Tags: pessimism bias, The Great Enrichment
“The problems of famine, overpopulation, poverty, and disease are resolvable. In fact, they have been resolved in the United States and other places where human ingenuity is free to solve them.” The post Resourceful Earth Day: Fred Smith on Julian Simon appeared first on Watts Up With That?.
Resourceful Earth Day: Fred Smith on Julian Simon
Is each American generation doing better?
23 Apr 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, econometerics, economic history Tags: The Great Enrichment
We construct a posttax, posttransfer income measure from 1963 to 2023 based on the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement that allows us to consistently compare the economic well-being of five generations of Americans at ages 36–40. We find that Millennials had a real median household income that was 20% higher than that…
Is each American generation doing better?
Quotation of the Day…
17 Mar 2026 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic history, entrepreneurship, growth disasters, growth miracles, industrial organisation, labour economics, labour supply Tags: creative destruction, The Great Enrichment
Tweet… is from page 103 of Historical Impromptus, a 2020 collection of some of Deirdre McCloskey’s work on economic history; this quotation, specifically, is from McCloskey’s 2000 review, in the Minnesota Journal of Global Trade, of Thomas Friedman’s The Lexus and the Olive Tree and John Gray’s False Dawn [original emphasis]: Globalization encourages the capitalist…
Quotation of the Day…
The initial underappreciation of great inventions
31 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, industrial organisation Tags: creative destruction, The Great Enrichment
When a truly great new invention appears, people rarely greet it with the reverence that hindsight later bestows. Instead, they squint at it through the lens of the familiar. They ask: What is this like? And because it is not like anything they already know, they underestimate it. History is littered with inventions that, at […]
The initial underappreciation of great inventions
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
20 Jan 2026 1 Comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economic growth, economic history, growth miracles, income redistribution, labour economics, liberalism, macroeconomics, Marxist economics, poverty and inequality, Public Choice, technological progress Tags: regressive left, The Great Enrichment
As I wrote nine years ago, Oxfam is a pathetic organization. Originally created to help the poor, it has been captured by activists who peddle class warfare. But they play that role in an incredibly sloppy fashion. In all the debates I’ve been part of over the years, no left-leaning academic has been willing to […]
Part II: Oxfam Is a Leftist Joke, not a Real Charity
We’re still better off than ever before
18 Jan 2026 Leave a comment
in economic history, liberalism Tags: The Great Enrichment
Steven Pinker wrote at the Free Press: Human progress continues, with some backsliding. Since publishing two books on human progress (The Better Angels of Our Nature, 2011, and Enlightenment Now, 2018), every year I update my graphs on the major dimensions of human well-being. Most people think everything’s gotten worse, but that can be a misleading…
We’re still better off than ever before
A Case For Human Progress
13 Dec 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, liberalism Tags: Age of Enlightenment, pessimist bias, The Great Enrichment
Steven Pinker’s claim that human beings are now better off than at any time since the beginning of recorded history has provoked fierce resistance. Critics often regard it as complacent, technocratic, or morally obtuse in the face of ongoing suffering. Yet when the claim is properly understood—not as a denial of present evils, but as […]
A Case For Human Progress
The Great Enrichment again
25 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in development economics, economic history, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: The Great Enrichment
50 years of economic progress – but are New Zealand households better off?
18 Nov 2025 Leave a comment
in econometerics, economic history Tags: housing affordability, The Great Enrichment
Wayne Jackson writes – The 50th anniversary of New Zealand’s Household Economic Survey (HES) provides a unique vantage point to assess how far households have come in terms of income, expenditure, and wealth accumulation. Comparing 1974 with 2024 reveals a story of rising prosperity, shifting household structures, and widening disparities. From dual‑income households to skyrocketing […]
50 years of economic progress – but are New Zealand households better off?
Sorry, But Pope Leo Is Mistaken
13 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, development economics, economics of religion, growth disasters, growth miracles Tags: The Great Enrichment
TweetHere’s a letter to a new correspondent. Mr. __: Thanks for sharing Sohrab Ahmari’s tweet, which I’d not otherwise have noticed. It is, frankly, pathetically inept. In order to criticize the pro-free-market Acton Institute, Ahmari favorably quotes Pope Leo’s assertion that “pseudo-scientific data are invoked to support the claim that a free market economy will…
Sorry, But Pope Leo Is Mistaken
Unbeatable: The Brutally Honest Case for Free Markets | Bryan Caplan
04 Oct 2025 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, comparative institutional analysis, economic growth, economic history, income redistribution, industrial organisation, labour economics, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, macroeconomics, Public Choice Tags: The Great Enrichment
Is Progress Progressive?
14 Jul 2025 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of education, economics of regulation, liberalism, Marxist economics, politics - New Zealand Tags: pessimism bias, The Great Enrichment
We should not assume that all adopted innovations are progressive. Jonathon Haidt’s ‘The Anxious Generation’ illustrates that sometimes they require social measures to enhance well being. Brian Easton writes – The Anxious Generation is a book which probably everyone engaging with adolescents should read. Haidt’s thesis is that smartphones replacing flip phones led to a marked […]
Is Progress Progressive?
Against cultural equivalence
15 Apr 2025 1 Comment
in economic history, history of economic thought, law and economics, liberalism, libertarianism, Marxist economics, property rights Tags: Age of Enlightenment, The Great Enrichment
The assertion that all cultures are equal has become a widely accepted axiom in contemporary discourse, shaped significantly by well-intentioned efforts to foster global tolerance and respect. However, it is not only possible but necessary to challenge this view. While cultural relativism emphasizes understanding and tolerance, it need not extend to cultural equivalence. Indeed, an […]
Against cultural equivalence
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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