Wittgenstein, a passionate reader of detective stories, famously said that “more wisdom is contained in the best crime fiction than in conventional philosophical essays.” Marshall Jevons’ The Mystery ...

Reviewed Works: Basic Principles of Economics and Their Significance for Public Policy Harry Gunnison BrownA Postscript and Questions, Being Volume II of Basic Principles of Economics Harry Gunnison ...

Incentives do matter, and to suggest otherwise is to betray basic principles of economics. In the 1980s, the inventive rock band Devo put forward the theory that mankind was experiencing de-evolution ...

I’m technically on vacation, but the wife and kids are watching Chicken Little up in the hotel room right now, so I’m going to sneak in here for a quick post. Ted Gayer — senior fellow and co-director ...

I reported earlier this month that the Financial Times published a pair of important articles asking why the goal of a firm is to maximize short-term shareholder value is still being taught in ...

The other day I complained about an article by Brookings economist Ted Gayer. So did Brad DeLong, Paul Krugman, Ryan Avent, and Ezra Klein. As I am a nobody writing on an obscure website, I was ...

A recent story on National Public Radio ( link) gives an overview of a subfield of economics called behavioral economics. Behavioral economics incorporates elements of psychology into economic theory.