Tweet [1]
Bryan Caplan’s final paragraph in this, his most recent post on ZMP, nicely captures my own strong priors [2]. Are a few years of recession really sufficient reason to begin to believe that human labor has become – and will indefinitely remain – unprecedentedly inflexible? Are we to think that entrepreneurs have finally exhausted their capacity to creatively figure out ways to profitably employ the vast majority of adult human beings willing to work? Scientifically on this matter one should never say “never,” but I suspect that George Terborgh’s skepticism of claims of “economic maturity” is no less justified and appropriate today as it was when he first expressed it 66 years ago [3].
My column in the October 2011 issue of President & CEO [5] was composed during hurricane Irene’s final hours of lashing the U.S. northeast. Media commentary on Irene inspired me to focus on the distinction between creative destruction and destructive destruction.
Blunt – but it exposes an uncomfortable truth often unwelcomed by enthusiasts for collective decision-making in democratic societies [6]. (HT Reuvain Borchardt)
Andy Morriss sheds white light on the black underbelly of “green” subsidies [7].
I carelessly forgot to mention this happy fact when it first became a reality: George Selgin’s Good Money is now available in paperback! [8]