The Unbroken Window

Have you ever been solicited by a fellow who wants to give you access to his incredibly insightful and prescient sports-betting strategies? Have you ever received a newsletter from an investment company showing how it has regularly beat the market? Have you ever seen a testimonial from someone who has been healed from homeopathy? And [...]

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In Hayek’s classic, The Use of Knowledge in Society, he discusses how prices alone have the ability to both capture and reveal information that is particular to time and place, and that no centralized institution could possibly accumulate or act upon. At dinner the other night, one of my companions (I do not believe I [...]

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The Marxists famously took a deterministic view of the world. They saw the evolution of society as one where certain stages of development were inevitable. So, they believed that capitalism emerged, but that it too must evolve into the next order, which they of course understood to be full-blown socialism. They were wrong. However, there [...]

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Those of us who respect the Hayekian view of the world emphasize the idea that markets (among many other kinds of “orders”) were not consciously designed by anyone. The market as a “spontaneous order” means that the free association of buyers and sellers came about through a long process on individuals trying to improve their [...]

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The Central Planner intends on spending $53 billion of other people’s money to build toy trains. President Barack Obama is calling for a six-year, $53 billion spending plan for high-speed rail, as he seeks to use infrastructure spending to jump-start job creation. … Obama’s push for high-speed rail spending is part of his broad goal [...]

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There are many reasons why people support the idea of “buying local.” (See here and here for a little more information). But the most prominent among these ideas is that buying local is somehow “good” for the environment. So, let’s focus on that one aspect of the “buying local” idea. Here’s my query: if the [...]

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In the latest episode of Bootleggers and Baptists running wild I noticed an absurd provision at the end of the Food Safety Bill being debated: SEC. 406. FOOD TRANSPORTATION STUDY. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Commissioner of Food and Drugs, shall conduct a study of the transportation of food for [...]

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If we develop better methods of identification like biometrics and the like, will we see the end of last names over time? Having last names is apparently something from relatively recent history.

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Consider how a central planner would solve a simple problem like, “what to do about Mr. Smith’s regularly occurring headaches.” The planner would have to call together a meeting of his planning board, and seek their input on the best way to accommodate me (because of course, they are all benevolent and seek nothing other [...]

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A while ago I linked to a few stories highlighting some miserable failures in urban planning in Cleveland and Pittsfield. I received several e-mails asking things like, “propose something better” and “should we let them all die?” Without discussing either of those (I will soon) allow me to make a methodological argument about the problem [...]

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