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How Liberals Distort Austrian Economics – Reason Magazine


Via How Liberals Distort Austrian Economics – Reason Magazine: The earliest Austrian economists did not make their mark by advocating free markets and other classical-liberal ideas. They did so by proffering a revolutionary positive (not normative) theoretical approach to understanding how markets work, focusing on value, price, and capital, theory. … Yglesias thus conflates Austrian economic theory with libertarian political theory. In fairness, he is not alone in committing this error. Many libertarians do the same, which is unfortunate. Austrian economic […]

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Thought for the day – Karl Popper on reason and critical discussion


From All Life is Problem Solving: When I speak of reason or rationalism, all I mean is the conviction that we can learn through criticism of our mistakes and errors, especially through criticism by others, and eventually also through self-criticism. A rationalist is simply someone for whom it is more important to learn than to be proved right; someone who is willing to learn from others — not by simply taking over another’s opinions, but by gladly allowing others to […]

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The Future and its Enemies


I just finished Virginia Postrel’s challenging The Future and Its Enemies: The Growing Conflict over Creativity, Enterprise and Progress. It is an appeal to embrace the dynamism of life and overcome our fears for the future. It is about real progress, not state-driven, top-down control. Consider for example this, from page 42: Conserving only the underlying stable rules, while letting individual decision making drive change, is a concept that a century of technocracy has made foreign to most people. It […]

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Churchill’s Wit


One kind Christmas gift was Churchill’s Wit: The Definitive Collection. I am particularly savouring this gem (1906): For my own part I have always felt that a politician is to be judged by the animosities which he excites among his opponents. I have always set myself not merely to relish but to deserve thoroughly their censure. I expect that will keep me going through the heat of the fires of unreason of the statist left.

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Blair commits a revolt against reason


So here I am,  back online in our new High Wycombe home, just in time for this revolt against reason: Following the ‘climategate scandal’, Mr Blair said the science may not be “as certain as its proponents allege”. But he said the world should act as a precaution against floods, droughts and mass extinction caused by climate change, in fact it would be “grossly irresponsible” not to. If I understand Blair correctly, he is following up his recent assertion of […]

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