Price fixing does not represent simply windfall gains and losses to particular groups according to whether the price happens to read more

Price fixing does not represent simply windfall gains and losses to particular groups according to whether the price happens to be set higher or lower than it would be otherwise. It represents a net lose to the economy as a whole to the extent that many transactions do not take place at all, because the mutually acceptable possibilities have been reduced.

Our supplies of natural resources are not finite in any economic sense. Nor does past experience give reason to expect read more

Our supplies of natural resources are not finite in any economic sense. Nor does past experience give reason to expect natural resources to become more scarce. Rather, if history is any guide, natural resources will progressively become less costly, hence less scarce, and will constitute a smaller proportion of our expenses in future years.

Frankly, I don't want to see a rapid upturn. I want it to hold until some of these idiotic competitors read more

Frankly, I don't want to see a rapid upturn. I want it to hold until some of these idiotic competitors go bust.

Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And read more

Not understanding the process of a spontaneously-ordered economy goes hand-in-hand with not understanding the creation of resources and wealth. And when a person does not understand the creation of resources and wealth, the only intellectual alternative is to believe that increasing wealth must be at the cost of someone else. This belief that our good fortune must be an exploitation of others may be the taproot of false prophecy about doom that our evil ways must bring upon us.

If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion.

If all the economists were laid end to end, they'd never reach a conclusion.

It is your mind that matters economically, as much or more than your mouth or hands. In the long run, read more

It is your mind that matters economically, as much or more than your mouth or hands. In the long run, the most important economic effect of population size and growth is the contribution of additional people to our stock of useful knowledge. And this contribution is large enough in the long run to overcome all the costs of population growth.

People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. read more

People don't have fortunes left them in that style nowadays; men have to work and women to marry for money. It's a dreadfully unjust world.

The morality of compromise' sounds contradictory. Compromise is usually a sign of weakness, or an admission of defeat. Strong men read more

The morality of compromise' sounds contradictory. Compromise is usually a sign of weakness, or an admission of defeat. Strong men don't compromise, it is said, and principles should never be compromised. I shall argue that strong men, conversely, know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater principle.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents.