Some Links

Tweet ^[1]

Scott Sumner wonders why many economists are eager, with flimsy reason, to reject core and well-established principles of economics in order to leap onto the bandwagon of pundits and politicians who tell the general public that ‘man-in-the-street’ economics fallacies are really economic truths ^[2].  I wonder the same thing.

Fortunately, my GMU Econ and Mercatus Center colleagues are not party to this subtle sabotaging of sound economics – see, for example, this superb op-ed on the minimum wage by my Mercatus Center colleague Michael Farren ^[3].

Alberto Mingardi remembers the great Italian libertarian Sergio Ricossa ^[4].

According to data from the Congressional Budget Office, even the poorest Americans are much richer today than they were in 1979 ^[5].  (And remember: percentiles are not flesh-and-blood individuals.)

Mark Perry explains the logic of protectionism ^[6].

Daniel Bier exposes Bernie Sanders’s economic ignorance and hostility to foreigners ^[7].

Arnold Kling reviews Roger Scruton’s Fools, Frauds and Firebrands: Thinkers of the New Left ^[8].  A slice:

The writers of the New Left are never specific about what will replace capitalism. Instead, they view it as obvious that tearing down existing institutions will be sufficient to bring about utopia. Because the capitalist system is the source of all evil, once you destroy it, only good will remain.

This approach gives the New Left the ability on offense to attribute every imperfection in society to existing institutions, especially markets. On defense, the New Left itself offers no program with specifics that might be attacked.

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