Byron Carson
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Public Choice Economist
“Public choice logic remains relevant in the real world, even for our more pressing political controversies. Perhaps we should pay more attention to Obi-Wan, his public choice logic, and the larger political economy issues the Star Wars franchise ingeniously portrays.” ~ Byron B. Carson III
A Market for Mosquito Control?
“In addition to the standard factors of mosquito control, perhaps we should consider the role economic freedom plays. Such institutions enhance competition, encourage innovation, and lead to more opportunities to kill mosquitoes.” ~ Byron B. Carson III
Social Capital Mediates COVID-19 Vaccinations
“In Tocqueville’s visit to America, he is struck by an ‘equality of conditions’—his approach to social capital. Perhaps we should pay more attention to the equality of values people hold dear. Public health is important, but so is personal freedom.” ~ Byron B. Carson III
What Can Hayek Say About Public Health?
“Public health as art, following Hayek, becomes a social science, or the study of how people make choices based on their values and tacit knowledge, how they interact with others, and how those behaviors and interactions influence health.” ~ Byron B. Carson III
Book Review: American Contagions: Epidemics and the Law from Smallpox to COVID-19
“What should courts do in these kinds of cases and how should they make the tradeoff between pursuing public health and protecting civil liberties during public health emergencies?” ~ Byron B. Carson III
Fight Covid-19 With Social Capital Not Stringency
“While Covid-19 and its variants are reaching endemic status, people and their communities can play an active role in limiting its spread by bolstering social capital through resuming normal social and economic activities, not by imposing additional lockdowns.” ~ Byron Carson, Justin Isaacs & Anthony Carilli
Cancel Hardware Stores, Not Amazon Prime
“Mutually beneficial exchange is one of the essential features of market processes, and it is pervasive throughout our interactions with Amazon—for consumers and producers—despite perceptions to the contrary. Policies devoted to curtailing those interactions make people worse off, and critics of Amazon should be aware of such consequences.” ~ Byron B. Caron III
Too Many Experts, Too Little Knowledge
“The kind of information people acquire in their myriad interactions with others is often undervalued as a means of preventative behavior. As helpful as science is for understanding causal mechanisms — and it is — it should not be the only source of knowledge that informs your behavior, let alone policy.” ~ Byron B. Carson…
Don’t Fear the Reaper: A Review of The Plague Cycle by Charles Kenny
“The Plague Cycle is an excellent treatment on the history of infectious diseases and the complex relationship with human societies, and it offers new ways to think about disease prevention going forward. Do pick it up with those reasons in mind, not just because of the implications for Covid-19.” ~ Byron B. Carson III
Drink Your Coffee, Be Considerate, and Fight Covid-19
“Lockdowns are a blunt policy instrument typical of government officials who can only pretend to know how individuals make choices and the tradeoffs they face. However, we can still be considerate of the choices people make and fight Covid-19.” ~ Byron Carson
