Donald J. Boudreaux is a Associate Senior Research Fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research and affiliated with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University; a Mercatus Center Board Member; and a professor of economics and former economics-department chair at George Mason University. He is the author of the books The Essential Hayek, Globalization, Hypocrites and Half-Wits, and his articles appear in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, US News & World Report as well as numerous scholarly journals. He writes a blog called Cafe Hayek and a regular column on economics for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Boudreaux earned a PhD in economics from Auburn University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.
“Alas, most voters are ignorant of Econ 101. They don’t realize that price ceilings actually decrease buyers’ access to goods whose prices are kept artificially low by government diktats.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“While both men won the Nobel Prize in economics – Hayek in 1974 and Friedman in 1976 – economists regard the scholarly work of Hayek as differing almost categorically from that of Friedman.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“An individual innovation is small, minuscule even. But it’s real and it improves our standard of living. Yet how many of you have noticed it? Almost none. The market, therefore, gets no credit for it.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“Because in today’s global economy the people with whom we interact economically number literally in the billions, the percentage of these persons with whom we also interact personally is near zero.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“Justification of a policy of free trade does not rest on the claim that free trade in each and every case yields ‘optimal’ results, or a stream of results as excellent as those that would be achieved by protectionist policies.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“We then must ask: If low-income people are indeed beset by monopoly prices, why don’t entrepreneurs sweep in to compete those prices down to competitive levels?” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“Only because people are eager to trade with people in different countries do governments feel the need to suppress this trade…Persons who erect these restraints understand that what they impose is not globalization – that would arise naturally – but economic nationalism.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“Wasteful uses of resources necessarily result in some economic opportunities that are possible being rendered impossible. What were these foregone opportunities?” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
“All we know here is that humans are innovative and have a great capacity to creatively meet challenges without being prodded by politicians or mandarins. But no one can predict in detail how this creativity will manifest itself.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux