Michael Munger

  • Alfred Marshall’s Scissors

    “There is simply no necessary relationship between cost and price.” ~Michael Munger

    Alfred Marshall’s Scissors
  • Welfare is a Jealous Polygamist

    “Benefits are contingent, and the contingencies — no jobs, no marriage — are detrimental to women long term, and disturbingly similar to the restrictions a polygamist would impose.” ~Michael Munger

    Welfare is a Jealous Polygamist
  • What Americans Can Learn From Venezuela’s Crackdown on ‘Price Gougers’

    “Ten years ago, Venezuela set out on a path to economic ruin and grave shortages of basic consumer goods, because of price controls on groceries and other products. Is the US really going to travel on the same road?” ~Michael Munger

    What Americans Can Learn From Venezuela’s Crackdown on ‘Price Gougers’
  • Free Kids from Their Cells

    “To keep our kids from harm, we have exposed them to brain-altering habits, online predators, and addictive pastimes that don’t just have the risk, but the near certainty, of making those now children turn out to be anxious and dysfunctional adults.” ~Michael Munger

    Free Kids from Their Cells
  • Economic Observations of Beach Parking

    “The idea of ‘line up!’ is deeply ingrained in most of us, to the point where we are angry if someone ‘cuts’ in line ahead or, for that matter, behind us.” ~Michael Munger

    Economic Observations of Beach Parking
  • ULTRAs: The Worst Idea You’ve Never Heard Of

    “Instead of taking two percent (say) of the liquidated value of the wealth, the state would simply take ownership of the wealth, in place… In a relatively short time, the government literally takes substantial ownership of all successful private businesses.” ~Michael Munger

    ULTRAs: The Worst Idea You’ve Never Heard Of
  • Stiglitz: When Good Minds Seek Fools’ Favor

    “Stiglitz believes ‘education’ should be explicitly designed to attack property rights and to weaken the sense of American exceptionalism, the tradition of classical liberalism.” ~Michael Munger

    Stiglitz: When Good Minds Seek Fools’ Favor
  • Government Failure in One Lesson

    “Perhaps the easiest way to explain government failure in one lesson is to remember that there is no such thing as ‘the state.’ Instead, essential decisions about resource use will be made by political actors.” ~Michael Munger

    Government Failure in One Lesson
  • Our Kids Have No Economic Immune Systems

    “Kids are told they can do anything, that they are personally mighty and important. But they never have the experience of everyday effort and failure.” ~Michael Munger

    Our Kids Have No Economic Immune Systems
  • Private Governance Will Make You Free

    “Enforcement of these emergent rules can be accomplished largely by what Adam Smith called ‘propriety,’ rather than by armed employees of the state.” ~Michael Munger

    Private Governance Will Make You Free