How many times in discussions of social problems have you heard people invoke some economic principle, law, or guideline to explain why their solution works and yours doesn’t? How many times have you done the same? Where do these ideas about economics come from? How reliable are they? What are these ideas anyway? Natural laws? Moral preferences? Generalizations based on past experience? A picture some smart guy drew on a napkin to illustrate a theory he cooked up minus any evidence (no, I’m not making this up)?
Maybe you took an economics course or two in college. How long ago was that? Maybe, like me, you never studied economics at all. Frankly, I grew tired of hearing people attempt to clinch their viewpoint on policy with some principle of economics that I either never heard of, did not understand or could not evaluate.
A little background. The vast majority of cases involve disputes with my former fellow reformed and Presbyterian colleagues and, after I left the pastorate and the evangelical fold, Ayn Rand acolytes. These people were all basically advocates of the “market fundamentalism” (Joseph Stiglitz’s term) of Ludwig Von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and their ilk.
So, I decided to start educating myself. If you want to do the same, here is a quick list of internet resources.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz
Nobel Prize-winning economist (and often irritating New York Times columnist) Paul Krugman
And for those of you who object that my list so far is too left-wing, Russ Roberts
The Mises Institute. I’m posting this to cover the full range of opinion but not advocating for it. Ludwig Von Mises was a smart guy who made many correct observations about how economies work but also made some critical errors that subsequent research has corrected. Unfortunately, his followers are fundamentalists in the worst sense of the word. Please don’t add to their number.