Economics

Archive for Economics

Tom Woods and I Discuss Robert Reich

Here. We take apart his video calling for a $15/hour minimum wage.

Criticizing Robert Reich’s Video for a $15 Minimum Wage

At Mises CA. An excerpt: Reich then goes on to argue that if the minimum wage in 1968 had kept pace with the growth in the “average productivity” of American workers, then today it would be more than $21/hour. Although Reich doesn’t come right out and say it, he sure implies that the workers on […]

At Some Point It Would Be Nice If Rothbard’s Critics Actually Read His Article on Legal Theory

Gene Callahan doesn’t like my article in which I said that Rothbard had given a prima facie plausible response to critics like Steve Landsburg and David Friedman, who argued that the libertarian approach to property rights would mean that (say) your neighbor could force you to not use any electronic devices. Here’s Gene: This argument […]

At This Point Steve Landsburg Must Classify Me as a “Nuisance”

I wanted to push back against Steve Landsburg casually saying that libertarian property rights theory doesn’t work. I thought Rothbard probably handled this type of thing, but I was pleasantly surprised to see just how specific it was. Here’s Rothbard: Consider the case of radio waves, which is a crossing of other people’s boundaries that […]

On the Minimum Wage “Experiments”

I wonder if minimum wage workers feel comfortable reading Noah Smith. An excerpt: The early evidence said that minimum wage laws reduce employment growth–just as the textbooks and intro classes taught students for decades. Then, there was a wave of studies in the 1990s that challenged this orthodoxy, including the famous Card-Krueger paper in 1994. […]

Larry Summers Wants TPP Because of What It Represents

This is a bit freaky. Tyler Cowen points to Larry Summers who writes: The Senate’s rejection of President Woodrow Wilson’s commitment of the United States to the League of Nations was the greatest setback to U.S. global leadership of the last century. While not remotely as consequential, the votes in the House last week that, […]

“Paid Family Leave” a Great Way to Hurt Women in the Workforce

My latest at FEE. An excerpt: For example, if a 23-year-old woman with a fresh MBA is applying to several firms for a career in the financial sector, but she has a serious boyfriend and thinks they might one day start a family, then — other things equal — she is going to highly value […]

An Unexpected Twist in the “Debt Burdening Our Grandkids?” Debate

You guys think you’ve got me all figured out. Well you’re wrong. In my current EconLib essay, instead of focusing on Krugman, I design two thought experiments of war financing to show that even Ludwig von Mises missed something crucial in the “debt and future generations” argument. The intro: Critics of government debt often argue that […]