Last weekend Ramona and I joined 450 others in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Heartland Institute, a Chicago based think tank. Its mission will resonate with many here. Those concerned with the likely consequences of current federal policies and promises may be heartened by its success — perhaps even find hope for change. Alert […]

Last week’s “FREE Insights” (October 21, 2009) characterized our Federal Budget as a common pool. Like fish in the oceans, a classic common pool resource, the federal budget is subject to the tragedy of the commons. In such circumstances, valuable resources with no owner or manager to control takings are overexploited to everyone’s long-term detriment. […]

The New Republic, a publication dating from the original Progressive Movement, recently ran an article with a cute and provocative title, “Aquacalypse Now: The End of Fish.” The author is Daniel Pauly of the Fisheries Center at the University of British Columbia. Essentially, the article correctly argued three points. First, because fish in the oceans […]

I’m approaching a milestone birthday, my 70th. This is a time for contemplation, satisfaction, and adjustment. I feel fortunate indeed. For many years I’ve asked interns and honor students, “Has anyone told you this is the best time of your life?” They always respond, “Yes, everyone says that.” I’ve always assured them that, unless struck […]

There were no economics in the Garden of Eden for there was no scarcity. Economics arises when we confront scarcity and must choose among competing values. Hence, economics involves trading off one scarce thing, time for example, for another. Should I spend Sunday morning at church or walking in the woods appreciating nature? Should I […]

Plans to create five million “green jobs” took a hit last month with the resignation of Anthony “Van” Jones, the President’s green jobs czar. Jones quit not because his claims regarding creating green jobs became exposed for the myth they are, but rather for a series of impolitic remarks and revelations of associations with unsavory […]

FREE hosted several conferences this summer with participants from all over America. Several, indeed many, asked me to explain the signs “Shame on NorthWestern Energy.” Here’s my answer. The NorthWestern experience and subsequent public reactions follow the usual pattern. To illustrate I’ll begin with a bit of history and follow with the account of a […]

One of life’s greatest blessings is to live in a community where trust is the norm. This is true for innumerable social, psychological, political, and economic reasons. Trust is indeed a luxury to treasure. Among its other benefits, is that it reduces the costs of all exchanges and transactions. If we trust the person or […]

Until Barack Obama was elected president, Chicago’s Saul Alinsky was America’s most famous “community organizer.” While Obama never met Alinsky, who died in 1972, I did. It was in the late 1960s, shortly after he published Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. Here’s how it happened. I was a grad student at […]

Health care reform seems hopelessly complex only because it is. Yet, there are a few underlying, but seldom spoken about, forces that make it more intelligible. All of this is in accord with a fundamental principle of political economy; important issues that are complex and carry heavy emotional baggage naturally generate error and acrimony. Political […]