Books
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When Grand Histories Go Wrong
“Coggan embarked on an ambitious scheme to tell us about economic growth through the ages. In that he succeeds, but the account leaves much else to be desired.” ~ Joakim Book
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The Political History of Silver in America
“The history of metals as monetary commodities is long, difficult, and highly contentious. With The Story of Silver, William Silber has earned his spot on that part of the library shelf.” ~ Joakim Book
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Incremental or Radical Policy Reform?
“Incrementalists and radical advocates of liberty should not joust each other too much because they face a formidable common enemy, paternalistic statists who assume, rather than establish, the superiority of top-down, one-size-fits-all government ‘solutions’ to individual problems.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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The Five Transitions to Modernity
“We don’t know what the future brings, but to have a clue about the past and the present, Vaclav Smil is an invaluable guide.” ~ Joakim Book
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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
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Free Enterprise as Conspiracy
“Errors of historical fact and errors of historical interpretation often go hand-in-hand, reflecting a general approach that eschews the broader process of scholarly discovery and instead selectively seeks out bits and pieces of evidence in order to fit the past to a preconceived narrative.” ~ Phillip W. Magness
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Monetary Institutions and Monetary Control: What the Fed Should and Shouldn’t Do
“Professors Boettke, Salter, and Smith take aim at the root of monetary policy of our time; finding it deeply deficient, they recommend putting central banks under very strict rules. Bring on the fetters.” ~ Joakim Book
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Book Review: Mark Spitznagel’s Truly Spectacular ‘Safe Haven’
“Mark Spitznagel certainly is not captive to convention, which is why Safe Haven is such a joy. To the author, ‘becoming conventional is self-defeating in this business.’ Amen to that. The world needs more people like Spitznagel, and more books like the one he’s written.” ~ John Tamny
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How to Be a Green Economist, Nordhaus-Style
“Is there a way to be a concerned environmentalist without falling prey to the ‘It’s all a scam’ on one side and ‘It’s the apocalypse’ on the other? I believe so; deep down, I believe Professor Nordhaus does so too. The Spirit of Green shows it, but you need to dig a bit to find…
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Want to Prepare for the Next Pandemic? Read These Five Books on Expertise
“When we turn experts into masters rather than advisers, we throw away a lot of important knowledge. Experts definitely have their place, but we have to remember that they respond to incentives and have their own epistemic limitations.” ~ Art Carden
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Bringing Money Under the Rule of Law
“The problem, of course, is that the Fed has always been under constant political pressure, but even when it is acting independently, its adventurism can and has ended poorly. To combat this, the authors argue that the Fed should be bound by explicit rules that constrain it from exercising broad discretion.” ~ Ethan Yang
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How History Moves Forward
“History is the messy sum outcome of millions and millions of people’s incentives, desires, biases, and actions. An iconic quote from Jurassic Park is ‘Life finds a way,’ uttered by the cynical chaos-theory chanting character Ian Malcolm. History, it would seem, does too.” ~ Joakim Book
