Economics is about choices, not money. Money is only a useful measuring tool. But as the Hoover Institution’s Thomas Sowell has so rightly observed, what economists measure best are not those things that matter most. Yet, the economic way of thinking helps me understand two divisive issues, sexually oriented business and the burning of tires […]

Yesterday Americans celebrated our 33rd Earth Day. I spent the first fighting to protect the Lincoln Backcountry from the U.S. Forest Service. They proposed an economically idiotic development plan for that high-elevation and extremely fragile area. In 1972 we won that battle and I’ve seen great environmental progress since. The air and water are cleaner […]

My colleague John Baden has long argued that economics is best understood as a branch of evolutionary biology. Like biological systems, economic life evolves as people and organizations learn, respond, and innovate. Markets, like DNA-driven organisms, are highly efficient information-processing systems. The realization that prices transmit and process information was a great insight of the […]

Our pride in the U.S. military’s men and women is bound to increase even further. Why? In this war their demonstrated bravery, competence, and daring are barely diminished by bureaucratic and political dishonesty. Lies from the top in any organization demoralize and diminish those below. This is true for churches and colleges as well as […]

Many of those opposed to our military action in Iraq shout, “No blood for oil!” They believe our desire for Iraqi oil, not security, motivates our actions. Do these people think in terms of slogans, or causal relationships? If they don’t understand the driving force of allied military policy, they may be correct, but not […]