The recent story in the New York Magazine, “Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Arrived?” by Robert Draper, has given rise to a great deal of speculation about whether we are poised for another great political transformation. Needless to say, the prospect of this “moment” fills the New York Times set with dread. The Times’ all-purpose scold […]
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Few professors go to economics from anthropology, as did I. An anthropology background affects how one sees the world. It places far more emphasis on culture. Most decisions are based on information and incentives. Culture creates powerful incentives, ones often far more powerful than money. As Nobel Prize winning economist Doug North explained, culture constrains […]
Read MoreFREE is preparing for our August 25-29 seminar. We designed it for Article III federal judges and their clerks. This program will feature a field trip to Yellowstone Park. We will have presentations from the current Park Superintendent, a retired superintendent of Yellowstone, and natural scientists specializing in wildlands ecology. Ramona and I have been […]
Read MoreFREE fosters liberty, prosperity, and ecology by advocating reforms that recognize the importance of each. Our focus is the “romance” ring of the environmental arena; parks, wildlife, water, and wildlands. The focus holds in our academic and agricultural lives. Four decades ago we chose to live on a ranch near Gallatin Gateway. It is the […]
Read MoreAdd one more potential victim to the catalog of high-profile species likely to be harmed by the Endangered Species Act. The sage grouse, a large ground-dwelling bird that inhabits 165 million acres in 11 Western states, including Montana, appears headed for listing under the act, much to the detriment of both the grouse and […]
Read MoreThe oft-heard claim that charters perform no better than conventional schools is out of date and inaccurate. Many have been puzzled by New York Mayor Bill de Blasio‘s skepticism toward charter schools, his calls for ending space-sharing and charging them rent, and his $210 million cut of a construction fund important to the schools. Education reformers […]
Read MoreThe young woman looked frightened. All I did was ask some pointed questions. “Why do you have 35 kinds of energy bars, but only one brand of straight pins? And why are those made in China? Why aren’t your pins made in America?” This Kerr drug store was the final stop of my ten “observations,” so I had […]
Read MoreTo stop mass killers, we should let people like off-duty police and security guards carry concealed weapons. The recent senseless killings in Isla Vista, California of six college students at the hands of an obviously troubled 22-year-old Elliot Rodger, who then killed himself before he could be apprehended by the police, has provoked another […]
Read MoreRamona and I have returned from a memorable two weeks on a small cruise boat on Alaska’s Inside Passage. She takes a vacation trip to some exotic location nearly every year but I mainly travel on business. I had twice been to Alaska, both times in the winter. One was to the North Slope, the […]
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Take a look at the graph below. From the end of World War II until 1964 the poverty rate in this country was cut in half. Further, 94% of the change in the poverty rate over this period can be explained by changes in per capita income alone. Economic growth is clearly the most effective […]
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