The standard model for the origins of money holds that there must have been a time when no such thing as money existed. In those days, supposedly, people were as motivated to improve their material well being as we are now and therefore they engaged in exchange to acquire goods that would make them better off.

Continue reading “On the Origins of Money” →

The Virgina Beach School Board voted on the following resolution last night:

WHEREAS, the School Board of the City of Virginia Beach, Virginia values diversity, promotes inclusiveness and is committed to providing a learning environment whereby ALL students have access and opportunities to benefit from the high standards, support and resources required for a high quality education; and

Continue reading “Inexplicable Rejection” →

A video like this should be impossible. The behavior of the prospective Taliban donors violates every principle of self-interest in economics, but also the core principles of group identity and reciprocity in social psychology and anthropology.

You could conclude that the social sciences are faulty, or that the students have lost their connections with reality. You might otherwise reason that the Taliban deserve American support, but why, really, would you?

This video is some of the worst propaganda I have ever seen.

Continue reading “President Biden hosts meeting with business Leaders on need to address the debt limit” →

Source: Mises Institute.

The article depicts the U.S. federal debt ceiling in three different graphs of the time period 1943 through 2020:

• as nominal dollars

• as constant (or, inflation-adjusted) dollars

• as a percentage of GDP

All show the same pattern of steady increase of the debt ceiling beginning circa 1980.

Continue reading “The Debt Ceiling: An Affectionate History” →

Most telling line of debate: McAuliffe retorted: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” Hat tip Kerry Dougherty.

They say that just before you die your whole life flashes before your eyes. Thanks to Internet video streaming you can create a facsimile of that experience by watching whole TV series in a few day’s time that you once watched over a period of years. It won’t exactly be your life that flashes before your eyes, but it was your life that the show’s original broadcast punctuated.

Continue reading “Binge-watching TV Series” →

Source: Wall Street Journal (behind paywall).

What explains it?

Continue reading “A Democratic Dole for the Press” →

Source: Mises Institute.

Before Covid-19 came along, it was never fashionable to accuse unvaccinated people of causing disease or social injustice. Sure, there were pro-vaxxers and anti-vaxxers who occasionally argued over esoteric subjects, such as whether the measles vaccine could be linked to autism or other side effects, but most people were reluctant to blame the unvaccinated for particular outbreaks.

There were practical reasons for this reluctance. It is standard practice with infectious disease to try to identify patient zero, but the best efforts to do so are fraught with uncertainty and the benefits of knowing patient zero (after the fact) don’t change what has already occurred. Hence, the moral default is simply to assume that infection is like an act of God.

Not so with Covid. Now it is fashionable to name the unvaccinated as the cause of various social problems. Even our president does it. The essay deflates three such claims.

Because the concept of externalities came up in a recent Forum post I thought it might be useful to explore it. What I learned turned out to be fascinating.

To an economist, “an externality is a cost or benefit for a third party who did not agree to it” (Wikipedia). Most of us can easily think of examples; air pollution and public education come to mind.

Continue reading “Thinking about Externalities” →