Economics began as a branch of moral philosophy.  Its founders, including Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, focused on social ethics.  Economics gradually became more formal and mathematical.  Physics became the ideal for economists to emulate, a systematic field divorced from moral content.   Ever more abstract and divorced from the culture that guides and […]

  I find economics fun and useful. Fundamentally, it is not about money.  Rather, economics is a mode of thinking focused on two things, information and incentives. Unless deliberately randomized, as in a fair lottery or coin flip, most decisions are based on information and incentives.  It’s no accident that’s the way the world works.  […]

  Gallatin Writers is FREE’s sister organization, created twenty years ago.  We wanted to help people allergic to economic thinking understand the ethical and ecological value of economic reasoning to achieving their goals.   Here is a key: Respecting liberty and the contributions of prosperity is essential to a good society.  Poverty is the worst polluter.  Having come to economics […]

“Krugman’s depiction is not the way real economists would describe any of this.” – John Goodman in today’s FREE Insight Individuals working in the world of ideas lack sanctified immunity to the consequences of inconsistency.  Others monitor what they write and expose errors, especially those linked to ideology.   Here libertarians, aka classical liberals, have a […]

  I welcome several changes in this New Year.  And how fortunate we are to live here!  On many cultural, commercial, and medical dimensions, life in and around Bozeman is ever better.   Yesterday we had over 50 elk on our place.  (Fortunately, our haystacks had been trucked off.  Herds of elk eat and destroy them.  […]

  This is the season of “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men”.  Although data indicates the world actually is becoming more peaceful, peace and good will remain exceedingly difficult goals to achieve.  However, the Christmas season is an excellent time to recognize those who try: Success is contagious.     This week’s FREE Insights […]

Economists’ Favorite Bible Verse – An intro to today’s FREE Insight from the Chairman If political economists were to pick a favorite Bible verse I suggest it would be Proverbs 4:7. King James Version reads: “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”  Alas too many people neglect […]

A Pleasant Surprise – Intro by John Baden, Chairman, FREE The Christmas season is surely a time to share good things.  Here’s a letter to the Bozeman Chronicle posted on Monday, December 9th.  It is one I enjoyed and from which I learned.   One of the pleasures was to discover the clear thinking of […]

Both progressives and conservatives fundamentally misunderstand our most important founding document. This coming week, Harvard University Press will publish my new book, The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government. This 700-page volume took me over seven years to complete, and it offers a distinctive third approach to constitutional law that helps explain […]

  Let’s count our blessings, not only because tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. (Also Chanukah so this suggests interesting menus.)  Ramona and I have just returned from trips to big cities, Boston, New York, and Chicago.  We were treated well indeed and greatly enjoyed seeing friends and relatives.  Still, I felt blessed to return to Montana. […]