To 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 MoreEconomists’ 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 […]
Read MoreWhat we can all learn from the late Ronald Coase about protecting wetlands and wildlife. The recent death of Ronald Coase has given rise to an outpouring of praise about his contributions to the field of economics and his influence on the complex world of institutional politics. In my interactions with Coase, he was always cautious and diffident about […]
Read MoreIntro by John Baden It is the exception that probes, not proves, the rule. I know of no logical system in which an exception to a general rule can “prove” the verity of that proposition, generality, principle, or rule. In this week’s FREE Insights, economist Michael Munger of Duke University describes an […]
Read MoreSally Satel, MD, is a resident scholar at The American Enterprise Institute and a practicing psychiatrist and lecturer at Yale’s School of Medicine. I find her research and writing consistently well crafted and insightful. Sally has lectured in FREE’s programs for federal judges and law professors and received excellent reviews. Further, she is good […]
Read MoreIn her report on Judge Holly Brown’s dismissal of a challenge to the Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks agreement with Ted Turner on the management of Yellowstone Park bison (May 12, 2013), the Chronicle article states the following: “Under the public trust doctrine, which applies nationwide, the state has the responsibility to manage and […]
Read MoreThe labor market is one of the most regulated markets in our economy. Minimum wage laws effectively tell teenagers they cannot work unless they can produce $7.25 an hour. When the ObamaCare mandate kicks in next year, that hurdle will climb to more than $15 an hour for many potential employees. OSHA regulations dictate what risks workers […]
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As bad as the political persecution of conservatives by the IRS is—and it is really bad—if the IRS were to replace half of its workforce with tea party members, problems would remain. Let me explain how I know this. President Obama’s announcement that Acting Commissioner Steven T. Miller would take the fall for the IRS […]
Read MoreIn the now classic The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups (1965) the author Mancur Olson wrote: “(O)nly a separate and ‘selective’ incentive will stimulate a rational individual in a latent group to act in a group-oriented way”; that is, members of a large group will not act in the […]
Read MoreA version of this article appeared February 21, 2013, on page A13 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Perverse Incentives of the Lawyers Guild. While law school enrollment drops, ABA rules bust the budgets. Law schools are in trouble. Applications are down almost 50% to an estimated 54,000 this […]
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