Michael Munger
Duke’s Tent City ‘K-Ville’ — Still Crazy After 40 Years
Students' evolved ticket queuing system is perceived as legitimate because it balances effort, transparency, and equal opportunity.
What Uber and AirBnB Really Sell: Sharing with Transaction Costs Slashed
Platforms make on-demand access a real alternative to ownership, by reducing the three core transaction costs of sharing with strangers.
We Have Never Been Austere
Austerity never means “spending less," only growing a bit more slowly. That rhetorical dodge created a permanently expansionary state, in real, per-capita, and GDP-adjusted terms.
Playing Chicken with the Federal Budget: The Rational Stupidity of Shutdowns
Government shutdowns might look irrational, but they follow a familiar script. When political types gain more from the standoff than the solution, collisions become routine.
Peak Population: Prepare for a Shrinking World
Climate panic and coercive family planning created a new global crisis: shrinking, aging societies headed for demographic disaster.
Burger Chef and the McDonald’s Happy Meal: A Case Study in Creative Destruction
The real secret sauce of America’s most iconic food chain? Borrowing competitors’ ideas, including Burger Chef’s kid-sized meals with toys.
My Disagreement with John Tamny on SALT Deductions
In a recent essay, John Tamny, at RealClearMarkets got rather SALTy. Worth reading. John (whom I know and like, and have hosted to give a talk to my big undergrad…
My Disagreement with John Tamny on SALT Deductions
Lower taxes are a good thing — unless they just shift the cost from overspenders onto taxpayers in the future.
The Penny Problem Has a Third Option: Buy Them Back (With Interest)
Adam Smith recognized the importance of the “make or buy” decision. It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what…
The Penny Problem Has a Third Option: Buy Them Back (With Interest)
The Fed could buy back 114 billion pennies already floating around in drawers and couch cushions across America — and for a fraction of the cost of making new ones.
