Center for Study of Public Choice Annual Report 2015-2016 Table of Contents
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Campaign for Liberty — with All Due Respect Mr. President
Campaign For Liberty — With all due respect Mr. President http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=9636 "There is no disagreement that we need action by our government, a recovery plan that will help to jumpstart the economy." — PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA, JANUARY 9 , 2009 With all due respect Mr. President, that is not true. Notwithstanding reports that all economists are now Keynesians and that we all support a big increase in the burden of government, we do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. More government spending did not solve Japan's "lost decade" in the 1990s. As such, it is a triumph of hope over experience to believe that more government spending will help the U.S. today. To improve the economy, policy makers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, saving, investment and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth. Burton Abrams, Univ. of Delaware Marek Kolar, Delta College Douglas Adie, Ohio University Roger Koppl, Fairleigh Dickinson University Ryan Amacher, Univ. of Texas at Arlington Kishore Kulkarni, Metropolitan State College J.J. Arias, Georgia College & State University of Denver Howard Baetjer, Jr., Towson University Deepak Lal, UCLA Stacie Beck, Univ. of Delaware George Langelett, South Dakota State Don Bellante, Univ. of South Florida University James Bennett, George Mason University James Larriviere, Spring Hill College Bruce Benson, Florida State University Robert Lawson, Auburn University Sanjai Bhagat, Univ. -
The Mont Pelerin Society
A SPECIAL MEETING THE MONT PELERIN SOCIETY JANUARY 15–17, 2020 FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE: IDEAS AND ACTIONS FOR A FREE SOCIETY CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR MAKING THE CASE FOR LIBERTY RUSSELL ROBERTS HOOVER INSTITUTION • STANFORD UNIVERSITY 1 1 MAKING THE CASE FOR LIBERTY Prepared for the January 2020 Mont Pelerin Society Meeting Hoover Institution, Stanford University Russ Roberts John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow Hoover Institution Stanford University [email protected] 1 2 According to many economists and pundits, we are living under the dominion of Milton Friedman’s free market, neoliberal worldview. Such is the claim of the recent book, The Economists’ Hour by Binyamin Applebaum. He blames the policy prescriptions of free- market economists for slower growth, inequality, and declining life expectancy. The most important figure in this seemingly disastrous intellectual revolution? “Milton Friedman, an elfin libertarian…Friedman offered an appealingly simple answer for the nation’s problems: Government should get out of the way.” A similar judgment is delivered in a recent article in the Boston Review by Suresh Naidu, Dani Rodrik, and Gabriel Zucman: Leading economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman were among the founders of the Mont Pelerin Society, the influential group of intellectuals whose advocacy of markets and hostility to government intervention proved highly effective in reshaping the policy landscape after 1980. Deregulation, financialization, dismantling of the welfare state, deinstitutionalization of labor markets, reduction in corporate and progressive taxation, and the pursuit of hyper-globalization—the culprits behind rising inequalities—all seem to be rooted in conventional economic doctrines. -
Inspired Comment on the Commentary of The
Comment on the Commentary of the Day by Donald J. Boudreaux Chairman, Department of Economics George Mason University [email protected] http://www.cafehayek.com Disclaimer: The following “Letters to the Editor” were sent to the respective publications on the dates indicated. Some were printed but many were not. The original articles that are being commented on may or may not be available on the internet and may require registration or subscription to access if they are. Some of the original articles are syndicated and therefore may have appeared in other publications also. 20 February 2011 "correspondent Louise centralized state – that Mr. Hidalgo in Kazakhstan Ehrlich advises we must Editor, Los Angeles Times says that the most amazing submit to if we are to be thing about the disaster is saved from genuine eco- Dear Editor: that it is no accident. 'The disasters. Soviet planners who fatally Three different readers tapped the rivers, which 19 February 2011 write today in praise of fed the seas to irrigate Paul Ehrlich and his central Asia's vast cotton Friends, predictions of eco- fields, expected it dry up. mageddon (Letters, Feb. They either did not realise I just discovered this hour- 20). Such praise is odd, the consequences the plus long video of a talk on given that not one of the Aral's disappearance would immigration that my brilliant many catastrophes that Mr. bring or they simply did not young colleague Bryan Ehrlich has predicted over care.'" Caplan delivered, here on the past 43 years has [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/ GMU's Fairfax campus, occurred. -
Cesifo Working Paper No. 4790 Category 2: Public Choice May 2014
Human Capital and National Institutional Quality: Are TIMSS, PISA, and National Average IQ Robust Predictors? Garett Jones Niklas Potrafke CESIFO WORKING PAPER NO. 4790 CATEGORY 2: PUBLIC CHOICE MAY 2014 An electronic version of the paper may be downloaded • from the SSRN website: www.SSRN.com • from the RePEc website: www.RePEc.org • from the CESifo website: www.CESifoT -group.org/wp T CESifo Working Paper No. 4790 Human Capital and National Institutional Quality: Are TIMSS, PISA, and National Average IQ Robust Predictors? Abstract Is human capital a robust predictor of good institutions? Using a new institutional quality measure, the International Property Rights Index (IPRI), we find that cognitive skill measures are significant, robust, and large in magnitude. We use two databases of cognitive skills: estimates of national average IQ from Lynn and Vanhanen (2012a) and estimates of cognitive ability based on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scores estimated by Rindermann et al. (2009). The Rindermann cognitive ability scores estimate mean performance as well as performance at the 5th and 95th percentiles of the national population. National average IQ and the 95th percentile of cognitive ability are both robust predictors of overall institutional quality controlling for legal system, GDP per capita, geography dummies, and years of total schooling. Some possible microfoundations of this relationship are discussed. JEL-Code: D730, I200. Keywords: institutions, human capital, intelligence, PISA. Garett Jones Niklas Potrafke Department of Economics Ifo Institute – Leibniz Institute for George Mason University Economic Research USA - Fairfax, VA 22030 at the University of Munich [email protected] Poschingerstrasse 5 Germany – 81679 Munich [email protected] 14 May 2014 This paper has been accepted for publication in Intelligence. -
Some Political Economy of Monetary Rules
SUBSCRIBE NOW AND RECEIVE CRISIS AND LEVIATHAN* FREE! “The Independent Review does not accept “The Independent Review is pronouncements of government officials nor the excellent.” conventional wisdom at face value.” —GARY BECKER, Noble Laureate —JOHN R. MACARTHUR, Publisher, Harper’s in Economic Sciences Subscribe to The Independent Review and receive a free book of your choice* such as the 25th Anniversary Edition of Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government, by Founding Editor Robert Higgs. This quarterly journal, guided by co-editors Christopher J. Coyne, and Michael C. Munger, and Robert M. Whaples offers leading-edge insights on today’s most critical issues in economics, healthcare, education, law, history, political science, philosophy, and sociology. Thought-provoking and educational, The Independent Review is blazing the way toward informed debate! Student? Educator? Journalist? Business or civic leader? Engaged citizen? This journal is for YOU! *Order today for more FREE book options Perfect for students or anyone on the go! The Independent Review is available on mobile devices or tablets: iOS devices, Amazon Kindle Fire, or Android through Magzter. INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE, 100 SWAN WAY, OAKLAND, CA 94621 • 800-927-8733 • [email protected] PROMO CODE IRA1703 Some Political Economy of Monetary Rules F ALEXANDER WILLIAM SALTER n this paper, I evaluate the efficacy of various rules for monetary policy from the perspective of political economy. I present several rules that are popular in I current debates over monetary policy as well as some that are more radical and hence less frequently discussed. I also discuss whether a given rule may have helped to contain the negative effects of the recent financial crisis. -
A Conversation with Dr. Scott Sumner, June 3, 2015 Participants Summary
A conversation with Dr. Scott Sumner, June 3, 2015 Participants • Dr. Scott Sumner – Director, Program on Monetary Policy, the Mercatus Center at George Mason University (Mercatus) • Alexander Berger – Research Analyst, Open Philanthropy Project • Karl Smith – Consultant, Open Philanthropy Project Note: These notes were compiled by the Open Philanthropy Project and give an overview of the major points made by Dr. Scott Sumner. Summary The Open Philanthropy Project spoke with Dr. Sumner of Mercatus as part of its investigation into the economic and policy advocacy landscape around nominal gross domestic product (NGDP) targeting. Conversation topics included support for NGDP targeting from economists, past obstacles to implementing NGDP targeting, the value of prediction markets, and Dr. Sumner’s role at Mercatus. NGDP targeting Support for nominal GDP targeting Dr. Sumner believes that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely to adopt a particular monetary policy if there is consensus among economists about its effectiveness. There is now significant support for NGDP targeting from well-known economists on both the left and the right, including: • Christina Romer (University of California, Berkeley) • James Bullard (President, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis) • In recent remarks, Larry Summers (Harvard University) seemed to view NGDP targeting positively, though he did not explicitly endorse it • Mark Carney suggested that NGDP targeting should be considered as an option, just before he began serving as Governor of the Bank of England Dr. Sumner sees interest in NGDP targeting increasing steadily. The UK may be the country most likely to adopt NGDP targeting in the near future. Past obstacles to aDopting NGDP targeting Widely used New Keynesian economic models do not include NGDP as a variable, which makes it harder for many economists to see NGDP targeting as optimal. -
Scott Sumner
FEATURE A NEW VIEW OF THE GREAT RECESSION Scott B. Sumner argues US monetary policy has been too tight, not too easy ive years on, economists still don’t agree the ambiguity. Here’s Milton Friedman in 1998 on the causes of the financial crisis of expressing dismay that economists were confusing 2007–08. Nor do they agree on the easy and tight money in Japan: correct policy response to the subsequent Frecession. But one issue on which there is almost Low interest rates are generally a sign that universal agreement is that the financial crisis money has been tight, as in Japan; high caused the Great Recession. interest rates, that money has been easy … In this essay, I suggest that the conventional After the U.S. experience during the Great view is wrong, and that the financial crisis did not Depression, and after inflation and rising cause the recession—tight money did. This new interest rates in the 1970s and disinflation view must overcome two difficult hurdles. Most and falling interest rates in the 1980s, people think it is obvious that the financial crisis I thought the fallacy of identifying tight caused the recession, and many are incredulous money with high interest rates and easy when they hear the claim that monetary policy money with low interest rates was dead. has been contractionary in recent years. The first Apparently, old fallacies never die.1 part of the essay will explain why the conventional view is wrong; monetary policy has indeed been Many pundits claim that the Bank of Japan quite contractionary in the United States, Europe (BoJ) tried an easy money policy in the 1990s and and Japan (but not in Australia.) The second part early 2000s because nominal interest rates were will explain how people have reversed causation, low and the monetary base was growing rapidly. -
Exploring Inequality
SMU McLane/Armentrout/Bridwell Scholars Reading Groups Fall 2020 Syllabus Exploring Inequality Tues./Wed.: Dean Stansel, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow [email protected], office: 214-768-3492 Mon./Fri.: Meg Tuszynski, Ph.D., Research Fellow & Assistant Director [email protected], office: 214-768-3170 O’Neil Center for Global Markets & Freedom (www.oneilcenter.org) Cox School of Business, Crow 282 Meeting Times. Our meetings will be held on Mondays (Bridwell), Tuesdays (McLane), and Wednesdays (Armentrout) at 6-7 pm (Central time), and Fridays (Armentrout) at 11am-noon (Central time) online via Zoom. All four groups have the same readings. Attendance is required. Your attendance and active participation are required. We will have 10 regular meetings plus a joint reading group summit with the students from similar reading groups at Baylor, Texas Tech, Angelo State, and University of Central Arkansas. That event will be held online via Zoom on the morning of Sat. Oct. 17 and is a required part of the program. You will not be paid the $1000 stipend if you do not attend. You are required to attend all 10 weekly meetings. However, if you have an unavoidable conflict, we do have limited flexibility, with advance notice, for you to switch nights if you cannot attend on your regular reading group night (i.e., if you can’t make one of your regular Monday night meetings, you can instead attend on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday that week and vice-versa). In addition, the O’Neil Center hosts several guest speakers throughout the semester. Those will all be online this semester. -
Comment on the Commentary of the Day by Donald J
Comment on the Commentary of the Day by Donald J. Boudreaux Chairman, Department of Economics George Mason University [email protected] http://www.cafehayek.com Disclaimer: The following “Letters to the Editor” were sent to the respective publications on the dates indicated. Some were printed but many were not. The original articles that are being commented on may or may not be available on the internet and may require registration or subscription to access if they are. Some of the original articles are syndicated and therefore may have appeared in other publications also. 5 October 2008 insist that FDR's policies policies "ravaged the cured the economy's ills. requisite confidence." Editor, Washington Post The truth is, as economist [Robert Higgs, 1150 15th St., NW Peter Fearon wrote in "Depression, War, and Washington, DC 20071 1987, that "Perhaps the Cold War" (New York: New Deal's greatest failure Oxford University Press, Dear Editor: lay in its inability to 2006), p. 8] generate the revival in Rep. Rahm Emanuel says private investment that that "FDR inherited a would have led to greater depression and gave output and more jobs." America the greatest [Peter Fearon, "War, expansion of the middle Prosperity and Depression: class it has ever known" The U.S. Economy 1917- (Letters, October 5). This 45" (Lawrence, KS: claim is patently false. University Press of Kansas, 1987), p. 208] Even persons with even Economist Robert Higgs just a passing knowledge adds that "The willingness of history know that the of business people to American economy was in invest requires a depression for all of the sufficiently healthy state of 1930s. -
Download Issue (PDF)
VOLUME 61, NO 10 DECEMBER 2011 Features 8 Unemployment: What’s To Be Done? by Warren C. Gibson 11 Scientism and the Great Power Nexus by Max Borders 17 A Return to Gold? by John A.Allison and John L. Chapman 22 The Family Stone: Cavemen, Trade, and Comparative Advantage by Richard W.Fulmer 27 The Twisted Tree of Progressivism by Joseph R. Stromberg 34 Money Is Not Speech by Michael Cummins 36 The Age of the Busybody by Ridgway Knight Foley, Jr. Page 17 Columns 2 Perspective ~ Elizabeth Warren’s Non Sequitur by Sheldon Richman 4 Ideas and Consequences ~ Wanted:A Healthy Dose of Humility by Lawrence W.Reed 6 Keynesianism Doesn’t Mean Bigger Government? It Just Ain’t So! by Steven Horwitz 15 Our Economic Past ~ The First Government Bailouts: The Story of the RFC by Burton Folsom, Jr. 25 Peripatetics ~ Social Cooperation, Part 2 by Sheldon Richman 32 The Therapeutic State ~ Imprisoning Innocents by Thomas Szasz 40 Give Me a Break! ~ Ten Years After by John Stossel Page 25 47 The Pursuit of Happiness ~ Population Control Nonsense by Walter E.Williams Book Reviews 42 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy by Percy L. Greaves, Jr., edited by Bettina Bien Greaves Reviewed by Jim Powell 43 Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm Reviewed by George Selgin 44 Back on the Road to Serfdom: The Resurgence of Statism edited by Thomas E.Woods, Jr. Reviewed by George Leef 45 The Pursuit of Justice: Law and Economics of Legal Institutions edited by Edward J. -
The Case for NGDP Targeting Lessons from the Great Recession
The Case for NGDP Targeting Lessons from the Great Recession Scott Sumner 23 Great Smith Street ADAM SMITH London SW1P 3BL INSTITUTE www.adamsmith.org www.adamsmith.org The Case for NGDP Targeting Lessons from the Great Recession Scott Sumner Scott Sumner has taught economics at Bentley University for the past 27 years. He earned a BA in economics at the University of Wisconsin and a PhD at the University of Chicago. His research has been in the field of monetary economics, particularly the role of the gold standard in the Great Depression. © Adam Smith Research Trust 2011 Published in the UK by ASI (Research) Limited Some rights reserved. Copyright remains with the copyright holder, but users may download, save and distribute this work in any format provided that: (1) the Adam Smith Institute is cited; (2) the URL www.adamsmith.org <http://www.adamsmith.org> is published together with a prominent copy of this notice; (3) the text is used in full without amendments (extracts may be used for criticism or review); (4) the work is not resold; and (5) a link to any online use is sent to [email protected]. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. They have been selected for their independence and intellectual vigour, and are presented as a contribution to public debate. ISBN 1 902737 73 3 Printed in England by Grosvenor Group (Print Services) Limited, London Contents Executive Summary 5 Introduction 5 1 The advantages of NGDP targeting 6 over inflation targeting 2 NGDP targeting and the crash of 2008 9 3 Level targeting and forecast targeting 16 Executive summary The recent economic crisis has exposed important flaws with inflation targeting, particularly the form practiced by real world central banks. -
Hints and Puzzles from Cognitive Ability Research
WHY FE W WOMEN IN ECONOMICS ? Econ Journal Watch, Volume 5, Number 2, May 2008, pp 227-239. SYMPOSIUM : GENDER AND ECONOMICS What is the Right Number of Women? Hints and Puzzles from Cognitive Ability Research GARETT JONES 1 A COMMENT ON : CHRISTINA JONUN G AND ANN -CHARLOTTE STÅHLBER G , “REACH - ING THE TOP : ON GENDER BALANCE IN THE ECONOMICS PRO F ESSION ,” ECON JOUR - NAL WATCH 5(2), MAY 2008: 174-192. LIN K. ABSTRAC T There is no consensus as to the causes of women’s slow advance- ment in academic economics. Even after adjusting for factors rep- resenting family background or productivity a considerable portion of the gender promotion gap remains unexplained. In addition, the search for explanations has to consider the exceptionality of eco- nomics.” –Jonung and Ståhlberg (2008, 188) HERE I FOCUS ON THE POSSIBILITY THAT THE LOW REPRESENTATION OF women in economics is partially driven by genetic differences in tastes and abili- ties between the sexes, differences that may show up in both means and variances. Particularly in a field like academia, where essentially all employees are above the mean in abilities, variances are likely to be important. I’ll review some of the recent findings regarding the matter, some of which are more recent than the Larry Summers controversy. Some useful surveys include Munger (2007), Allen and Gorski (2002), Zup and Forger(2002), Pinker (2002), and especially Hyde (2005) and Cahill (2006); the most prominent rebuttal of the views expressed by those authors is Spelke (2005). Although there is no precise information at the genetic level, the combination of analogies from other mammals, early childhood 1 Department of Economics and Center for the Study of Public Choice, George Mason University.