Donald J. Boudreaux
Rethinking Trade Deficits: Foreign Dollar Holdings Are Really US Exports
Donald Trump believes that US trade deficits are evidence that Americans are being “ripped off” by foreign countries. He’s not alone. Fear and loathing of US trade deficits are bipartisan […]
What, Exactly, Are Negative Externalities?
Economics textbooks feature a coherent theory of how markets can allocate scarce resources in ways that achieve what is plausibly described as maximum possible human satisfaction.
Dynamia, Not Stagnatia
Consider the fictional little country of Dynamia. Although, strictly speaking, this place is a product of my imagination, my imagination here sticks closely to essential facts of reality. Dynamia is […]
The Problem With Retaliatory Protectionism
A familiar excuse for protective tariffs and other trade restrictions goes like this: It would be all well and good for our government to follow a policy of free trade […]
Protectionism and the Fallacy of Composition
Early on in my introductory economics course I warn my students always to beware of various logical fallacies, none of which is more prone to sow confusion than the fallacy […]
‘You Can Trust Me’: Catfishers, Nigerian Princes, and Political Hucksters
“Individuals who we don’t know and who don’t know us seek to gain our trust so that they can then gain open-ended access to our wealth.” ~Don Boudreaux
Organ Shortage: Two Ways to Boost Supply
“Every now and then we encounter a problem that does have a solution. The kidney shortage is one of these problems.” ~Don Boudreaux
Ten Lessons of the Economic Way of Thinking
“Humans do not obtain god-like knowledge, wisdom, or goodness by acting politically.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
Lose the Political Informality
“Politicians’ first-name basis… is a mercenary maneuver to gain our confidence on the cheap. It is literally a con game.” ~Donald J. Boudreaux
Free Market Fundamentals and NatCon Inconsistencies
“I’ve never encountered a protectionist of any stripe who explains why the jobs preserved by protectionism have a higher non-material or ethical importance than do the jobs destroyed by protectionism.” ~Donald Boudreaux
