This is the first of two essays on the contributions of property rights to peace and prosperity. It’s hard to imagine a sane person who doesn’t value peace and prosperity. Yet, these are illusive, oft fleeting qualities; few people understand how well defined and defended property rights contribute to both peace and prosperity. When property […]
Read MoreGreens often condemn Americans for their allegedly prodigal treatment of natural resources and the environment. This is a common theme in the environmental literature. Ed Abbey, author of The Monkey Wrench Gang, was one of the inspirations of Earth First! His statement, “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell”, suggests the […]
Read MoreI came to Bozeman from Bloomington, Indiana in 1970. My senior colleagues at IU assured me this was a huge mistake. Their well-intended reason: Montana was a colonial economy, one isolated and insulated from cultural and commercial success. The state supplied commodities, wheat and wood, coal and copper. From the Civil War to the first […]
Read MoreFREE’s Insight of March 12 was my account of two young, attractive, and highly successful lawyers married to one another. Each had served as law clerk to Article III federal judges, an excellent career beginning. I found them and their careers especially interesting; this summer FREE is offering seminars for clerks to federal judge. As […]
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I again observe that one of the great benefits of living here is meeting a remarkable array of talented and interesting people. For example, this winter I’ve met three individuals who have recently worked in Antarctica. More recently, when skiing in the Big Sky area, Ramona and I met a surgeon who is a pioneer […]
Read MoreOne of the great benefits of living here is the remarkable array of talented and interesting people one meets in the Bozeman area. For example, I’ve met three individuals who have recently worked in Antarctica. No surprise, such encounters are common here. Last Friday, Ramona and I were skiing in the Big Sky area and […]
Read MoreThe prospect of going south for a week in mid February seems a treat for those of us living in Montana. Hence, I was pleased to accept invitations to speak at NCCU and Duke Universities. It had been -30ºF with much snow, nothing unusual, before we left. We have seen much colder. We looked […]
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Americans are a notoriously mobile people. Families relocate to new places with remarkable frequency. Traditionally, moves are motivated by better employment opportunities. Going to the Bakken oil patch is an obvious example. No one goes there to enhance immediate quality of life. Money is the motivator. Salary and wages surely are not the only consideration […]
Read MoreI 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. […]
Read MoreGallatin 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 […]
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