From Regulation, Bruce Yandle on much ado about Pigou; and a warning: This column may be hazardous. Here's a primer on Austrian Economics. David Gordon reviews Literature and the Economics of Liberty: Spontaneous Order in Culture. Peter J. Boettke, Bettina Bien Greaves, Israel M. Kirzner, and Peter T. Leeson celebrate Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action. A review of Challenging Institutional Analysis and Development: The Bloomington School by Paul Dragos Aligica and Peter Boettke. An interview with Gary Becker: "[I'm] basically an optimist". Alex Tabarrok on capitalism, Hollywood's miscast villain: Why the film industry is so good at getting business wrong. Don’t blame financiers for the recent financial crisis, says Larry Ribstein — the true villains are Hollywood moviemakers. Herbert Gintis reviews Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse by Thomas E. Woods, and reviews of The Corruption of Economics by Mason Gaffney, Fred Harrison and Kris Feder. Carmen Reinhart reviews The Fearful Rise of Markets: A Short View of Global Bubbles and Synchronised Meltdowns by John Authers. A review of The Hesitant Hand: Taming Self-Interest in the History of Economic Ideas by Steven G. Medema. A review of Identity Economics by George Akerlof and Rachel Kranton (and more). Where hard physics combines with traders' animal passions, the bestiary of financialized civilization becomes imbued with the relations between hunter and hunted. Doug Henwood on how recessions are better for right than left (and part 2). Does Washington care about unemployment? Maybe the rich have not won — a new approach to capping income at the top is starting to gain momentum.
