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Most of us are familiar with free-market competition: the idea that society and the economy benefit when people are left to self-regulate, testing new ideas in pursuit of profit. Less known is the fact that this theory arose after arguments for the scientific method and freedom of speech had gone mainstream-and that all three share a common basis. Proponents of self-regulation in the realm of free speech have argued that unhindered public expression causes true ideas to gain strength through scrutiny. Similarly, scientific inquiry has been regarded as a self-correcting system, one in which competing hypotheses are verified by multiple independent researchers. It was long thought that society was better left to organize itself through free markets as opposed to political institutions. But, over the twentieth century, we became less confident in the notion of a self-regulating socioeconomy. Evan Osborne traces the rise and fall of this once-popular concept. He argues that-as society becomes more complex-self-regulation becomes more efficient and can once again serve our economy well

The goal of Reasonably Simple Economics is, not surprisingly, simple: to help us think like economists. When we do, so much of the world that seemed mysterious or baffling becomes more clear and understandable-improving our lives and providing new tools to succeed in business and career.In a chatty style, economist Evan Osborne explains the economic foundations behind the things we read about or see in the news everyday: Why prices for goods and services are what they are How government spending, regulation, and taxation can both hinder and help the economy Why and how some people get fabulou

The goal of Reasonably Simple Economics is, not surprisingly, simple: to help us think like economists. When we do, so much of the world that seemed mysterious or baffling becomes more clear and understandable-improving our lives and providing new tools to succeed in business and career. In a chatty style, economist Evan Osborne explains the economic foundations behind the things we read about or see in the news everyday: Why prices for goods andservices are what they are How government spending, regulation, and taxation can both hinder andhelp the economy Why and how some people get fabulously rich How entrepreneurs reorganize society beneficially Why markets sometimes failand when or if governments should intervene when they do How economics and statistics can explain such things as discrimination in hiring and providing services(and whydiscriminators are shooting themselves in the foot), why we're smarterthan we've ever been, and how technology makes the idea of Earth's'carrying capacity' meaningless Along the way, you will learn the basic concepts of economics that well-educated citizens in democratic countries should know, like scarcity, opportunity cost, supply and demand, all the different ways economies are "managed," and more. In the manner of The Armchair Economist, The Undercover Economist, or Naked Economics, Osborne uses current examples to illustrate the principles that underlie tragedies like the Greek economy or the global market meltdown of 2008, and triumphs like the continuing dominance of Silicon Valley in the tech world or why New York City markets are stuffed with goods despite the difficulty in getting them there. As Osborne points out, the future, in economic terms, has always been better than the past, and he shows you how to use that knowledge to improve your life both intellectually and materially.

China, which has endured thousands of years of despotism, notwithstanding that it has produced a great deal of political philosophy arguing that the dictator should treat his subjects justly, is an unlikely candidate as a source of classical-liberal thought. However, at least one Chinese philosopher known as Mozi (c.470-391 B.C.E.) was arguing in favor of some of the principles of classical liberalism centuries before Locke or Voltaire. In this article, I survey the impressive extent to which modern liberal principles appear in Mozi's writings, themselves also known collectively as the Mozi. Adapted from the source document.

Ethnic conflict has not been tested using economic theory, except its most extreme forms - violence and warfare. This paper adopts the newer economic approach to conflict to analyze ethnic conflict more broadly defined. The analysis is able for the first time to derive equilibrium discrimination by a dominant group and separatism by a weaker group. Consistent with the predictions developed, cross-sectional instrumental-variables estimates and other evidence indicate that government restrictions on commerce promote separatism and conflict and hamper trust. Economic freedom is thus argued to be a key if thus far largely neglected force for ethnic cooperation within states, consistent with the empirical findings for nation-state interactions.

Argues that commerce should be appreciated for its human creativity & expression rather than its utilitarianism. Successful commerce is said to be just as beautiful as other artistic activities. Two philosophical conceptions of beauty are explored: Objective beauty, based on Plato's notion of perfect forms; & the Enlightenment concept that beauty depends upon the extent to which it moves the observer. It is argued that commerce qualifies as an aesthetic achievement in relation to both philosophical conceptions. Immanuel Kant's argument that in order for an object to be truly beautiful it must be totally devoid of utility to the observer is challenged & ways in which Kant's notion of play supports the commerce-is-beautiful thesis are pointed out, along with the implications of viewing commerce as expressive & potentially beautiful. It is concluded that commercial creators deserve to be placed next to artists both in the law & in human admiration & they should have the right to experiment in the same sense that artists do. Figures, References. J. Lindroth

Cross‐country growth regressions have become an increasingly common tool in empirical development research. But these regressions typically do not attempt to distinguish among countries in different stages of development. Three empirical methods are used to test for such differences. Several of the factors known to affect economic growth are shown to operate differently for countries in different portions of the global income distribution. The results have implications for the role of financial markets, openness and factor accumulation in promoting growth. (JEL O150, O160, O400)

Corruption is a function of its return relative to engaging in productive activities. This paper presents an approach for thinking about the institutional features of societies and the resulting amount of corruption. The empirical results suggest that political competition is more important than competition in information-producing industries. The rent-seeking view of the relation between government and corruption is rejected in favor of the Becker (1983) model of political competition. The paper suggests that societies that continually stay open to productivity-enhancing activities will eventually enter a takeoff stage of anti-corruption efforts analogous to the eventual improvement in income distribution that occurs in successful industrialization.

Cross-country growth regressions have become an increasingly common tool in empirical development research. But these regressions typically do not attempt to distinguish among countries in different stages of development. Two empirical methods are used to test for such differences. Several of the factors known to affect economic growth are shown to operate differently for countries in different portions of the global income distribution. The results have implications for the role of financial markets, openness and human capital in promoting growth.

Cross-country growth regressions have in recent years become a major growth industry. The most common purpose of this work has been to investigate the determinants of economic growth. But it is also possible to use the existing growth data to determine the extent to which policy choices help or hinder growth. This paper generates estimates of the net contribution of policy to growth for a wide variety of countries. It also provides the ability to 'see' in an almost photographic way what substantial economic reform looks like, to test whether countries have meaningfully reformed. The findings also provide grist for speculation on the virtues of gradual versus dramatic, total economic reform.

The paper develops a rent-seeking theory of the common law. The general finding is that the law's form depends on the comparative advantage each group has in production vs appropriation generally, & appropriation via litigation in particular. The model generates new interpretations of developments in US common law, & is used both to supplement & to criticize two dominant theories of such law, the efficiency theory associated with the law & economics movement & that generated by critical legal studies scholars. 30 References. Adapted from the source document.