Dismayed by the disgrace into which the history profession seems to be headed – witness, for example, ‘historian’ Nancy MacLean’s disgraceful 2017 book Democracy in Chains – economic historian Bob Higgs pleads for pity for economists.
Also from Bob Higgs is this post on China:
I am old enough to remember when almost everyone believed that the Russians were, as Khrushchev put it, going to “bury” us. Even leading economists such as Paul Samuelson were taken in by such nonsense. Of course, no such burial occurred, because just producing vast quantities of concrete, steel, and H-bombs is no evidence that anything of genuine value is being produced. Later Japan became the Godzilla that was going to eat the U.S. and European economies with its bureucratic setup for picking and subsidizing “winners.” Before long that setup too collapsed in a heap and gave way to perpetual stagnation. Now almost everyone quakes in his boots while beholding the mighty Chinese economy. Again the hysteria has no firm foundation. An economy shaped and guided by government bureaucrats and Communist bigwigs by means of tariffs, subsidies, state-controlled credit, and state-owned industries cannot be a real growth miracle for long. This too shall pass.
And when it does Americans will learn nothing from their most recent mistake. If people really understood sound economics, they would not continue to make this same mistake again and again.
Mike Rappaport writes wisely about judicial deference to administrative agencies.
Vincent Geloso reflects on the 60th anniversary of Castro’s enslavement of the Cuban people.
Here’s Alberto Mingardi on Brexit and principles.
Bravo for the parents of the late Mollie Tibbetts.
GMU Law professor Ilya Somin reports the happy news of progress in rolling back exclusionary zoning.
Pete Boettke writes about public choice and about Randy Holcombe’s excellent new book.
