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Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetThe Wall Street Journal‘s Paul Gigot spoke yesterday with Phil Gramm about Gramm’s and my new book, The Triumph of Economic Freedom (which you can buy here). My emeritus GMU Econ colleague Larry White talks with George Selgin about George’s superb new book, False Dawn: The New Deal and the Promise of Recovery, 1933–1947 (which […]
Open Letter to Howard Lutnick - Cafe Hayek
TweetMr. Howard Lutnick Secretary of Commerce Washington, DC Mr. Lutnick: Testifying yesterday before the House Appropriations Committee, you told Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) that “there is no uncertainty that if you build in America, and you produce your product in America, there will be no tariff. The concept of building in America and paying no […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 265 of Thomas Sowell’s 1999 book, Barbarians Inside the Gates: Some people justify their actions by saying “I have a right” to do this or that. We all have a right to do many things that it would make no sense to do. Share Tweet Share Email Print
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 233 of Jacob Viner’s April 1927 Journal of Political Economy paper, “Adam Smith and Laissez Faire,” as this paper is reprinted in the 1958 collection of selected articles by Viner titled The Long View and the Short: There is no possible room for doubt, however, that [Adam] Smith in general believed […]
Protectionism Isn't Justified During Downturns - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to a new correspondent. Mr. __: In response to the claim that tariffs cannot increase production in some domestic industries without drawing resources away from – and, hence, decreasing production in – other domestic industries, you ask: Suppose we have unemployment? What are we “giving up” by employing people who, for example, […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetTwo letters in today’s Wall Street Journal – one by Greg Mankiw, the other by Donald Luskin – in defend economics against the charged, pressed by people such as JD Vance and Oren Cass, that economics isn’t a science: Regarding Matthew Hennessey’s op-ed “JD Vance Defies the Market’s Gravity” (June 3): I always find it […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetPhil Magness’s letter is today’s Wall Street Journal is great: In his May 29 letter, JD Vance encourages policymakers to enlist the “tools” of government to direct the American economy in a style reminiscent of Franklin Roosevelt. Such actions, he contends, are necessary to attain “fairer treatment from foreign partners” and to solve a variety […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from pages 228-229 of Johan Norberg’s excellent 2023 book, The Capitalist Manifesto: Many in the West believe China is winning and that the West’s only chance to cope with this economic and technological rivalry is to become more like China. But they confuse China’s unparalleled successes during the opening years 1978-2010 wit the […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 168 of Daniel Boorstin’s splendid 1958 volume, The Americans: The Colonial Experience: To say that a society can or ought to be “unified” by some total philosophic system – whether a Summa Theologica, a Calvin’s Institutes, or a Marx’s Capital – is to commit oneself to an aristocratic concept of knowledge: […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetThe Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal decries Trump’s destructive steel and aluminum tariffs. Two slices: The best that can be said about President Trump’s blessing of Nippon Steel’s purchase of U.S. Steel is that it blocks Cleveland-Cliffs’ political power play to buy U.S. Steel instead. The worst to be said is that the […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetThese two letters-to-the-editor in today’s Wall Street Journal – one from David Henderson, the other from Eric Fruits – are superb; each is in response to JD Vance’s lame attempt to defend himself against Matthew Hennessey’s insightful criticisms: Matthew Hennessey gets the better of Vice President JD Vance in arguing that the market isn’t a […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from pages 253-254 of the American jurist James Coolidge Carter’s profound, yet unfortunately neglected, (posthumous) 1907 book, Law: Its Origin, Growth and Function: [I]t should be kept constantly in mind by the legislator that the function of the law resting upon custom, the function of legislation and the function, indeed, of all Government […]
There Is No Such Thing As Free Tariff-Induced Domestic Production - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a note to a long-time champion of protectionism Warren Platts. Mr. Platts: Commenting on David Henderson’s EconLog post titled “Who Bears the Burden of Tariffs?” you construct a hypothetical example in which a protective U.S. tariff on baseball caps causes no increase in the price paid by American buyers of baseball caps yet nevertheless […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 200 of Johan Norberg’s excellent 2023 book, The Capitalist Manifesto: If we suspect that an initially very costly technology or business idea would be a success that pays off many times over in the future, we have access to a time machine that allows us to use that future revenue instantly. […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetBrian Albrecht exposes the fallacies in Oren Cass’s latest display of misunderstanding of the economic way of thinking. Two slices: “Supply and demand are undefeated.” That sounds like something I would say, but it comes from Wall Street Journal’s Matthew Hennessey’s piece in response to JD Vance calling “the market” a tool. Hennessey argued, “Markets… […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetEarlier this week, the Wall Street Journal‘s Matthew Hennessey penned a brilliant – and fair – criticism of JD Vance’s uninformed ‘understanding’ of free markets. Mr. Hennessey’s lucid argument obviously struck a nerve in the administration. None other than the vice-president of the United States himself responded. In today’s WSJ, the eminent Thomas Sowell expresses […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 112 of my late, great colleague Walter Williams’s 1982 book America: A Minority Viewpoint: Throughout the history of most modern nations, the amount of freedom enjoyed by its citizens was directly related to the freedom of its economy. Share Tweet Share Email Print
Trump Continues to Reveal Deep Misunderstanding of International Trade - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to the New York Post. Editor: You report that President Trump travelled to Pittsburgh to “tout” what he takes to be his achievement of having Nippon Steel invest $14 billion in U.S. Steel (“Trump doubles steel tariffs to 50%, slams ‘shoddy’ Chinese products while celebrating Nippon’s $14B investment in America,” May 30). […]
J.P. Morgan (Likely) Paid More - Cafe Hayek
TweetYesterday, Trump said about Nippon’s purchase of U.S. Steel that “There’s never been a $14 billion investment in the history of the steel industry in the United States.” In terms of nominal dollars he’s correct. In terms of inflation-adjusted dollars he’s (probably) incorrect. In 1901 J.P. Morgan paid $480 million for Carnegie Steel (to create […]
Imports Aren't the Only Substitutes - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to a new correspondent. Mr. S__: Thanks for your e-mail, in which you write that “regardless of the true motives of the President’s tariffs, his policy is deserving of support because it encourages us to buy more American made steel, aluminum, motor vehicles and other vital goods for national defense rather than […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetThe Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal is correct that no U.S. president possesses monarchial powers to impose tariffs. Two slices: In a ruling heard ’round the world, the U.S. Court of International Trade on Wednesday blocked President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. This is an important moment for the rule of law as much as […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 42 of Art Carden’s and GMU Econ alum Caleb Fuller’s excellent new book, Mere Economics (footnote deleted): When people trade, they work together even though they might not know (or care) about the other person’s goals. Think about this the next time you’re at a Walmart Supercenter. You get oranges? Where […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 202 of Johan Norberg’s wonderful 2023 book, The Capitalist Manifesto: The moon landing is a bizarre symbol of the new hope for industrial policy because we never got any industry. We placed a flag on the moon and then traveled back. DBx: We can recognize and applaud – I do! – […]
Oh, If Only Humanity Were Never Cursed by the Creation and Use of the Absurd Notion of 'Balance of Trade' - Cafe Hayek
TweetThe derisible notion reported by Sternberg is peddled these days most persistently by Michael Pettis. Editor, Wall Street Journal 1211 6th Ave. New York, NY 10036 Editor: Reporting that “economists influential in the Trump orbit complain that Germany chronically underconsumes and oversaves, recycling excess cash into capital outflows that land in the U.S. and cause our […]
A Conversation With a Protectionist - Cafe Hayek
TweetIn my latest column for AIER, I share part of a conversation with a protectionist. A slice: Protectionist: Let’s stick to tariffs, shall we? When I go to Walmart and Target, or buy stuff on Amazon, all the labels read “Made in Vietnam,” “Made in Bulgaria,” “Made in Mexico” — never “Made in America.” Nothing […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetYay! A federal court – the U.S. Court of International Trade – yesterday afternoon unanimously struck down Trump’s “Liberation Day” and other IEEPA tariffs. GMU Scalia Law’s Ilya Somin, who played an instrumental role making the legal case against these unlawful tariffs, has more. A slice: The US Court of International Trade just issued a […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from Wall Street Journal columnist Matthew Hennessey’s May 27th, 2025, piece titled “JD Vance Is Wrong: The Market Isn’t a ‘Tool’”: Markets, whether for cheap consumer goods or government bonds, can’t be bullied into compliance with a political agenda. They aren’t governed by the philosophies and desires of men like Mr. Vance. They […]
On Retaliatory Tariffs - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to a new visitor to Café Hayek. Mr. B__: Thanks for your e-mail. You argue – as even many economists do – that a potential benefit of protective tariffs is that these measures might pressure foreign governments to remove their trade barriers, at which time our government will remove its tariffs. The […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetNobel-laureate economist James Heckman and his co-author Hanming Fang busts myths about the “China Shock.” Two slices: There is growing evidence that, while Chinese imports did hammer certain regions, they didn’t cause large net job losses across the entire U.S. Recent research from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that job losses locally were […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 122 of the 1969 Arlington House edition of Ludwig von Mises’s 1944 Yale University Press book, Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War (available free-of-charge on-line here): Social coöperation and division of labor are man’s foremost tools in his struggle for survival. The intensification of this mutuality […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetIn his latest essay, Wall Street Journal columnist Matthew Hennessey accurately describes JD Vance as “economically illiterate as any leftist Democrat.” Two slices: And then we have the MAGA types, who take delight in insisting that traditional conservatives worship the market as a god. By this, of course, they intend to leave the impression that […]
Free to Choose to "Buy American" - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a letter to the Wall Street Journal. Editor: Without explicitly saying so, your report on Americans who go to great lengths to “buy American” reveals one of the many benefits of free trade – namely, freedom to choose (“Buying 100% Made in America Is Really, Really Hard. These People Are Trying.” May 25). While […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from page 728 of Gordon Wood’s excellent 2009 volume, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 (footnote deleted): The result was an odd mixture of credulity and skepticism among many middling Americans. Where everything was believable, everything could be doubted. Since all claims to expert knowledge were suspect, people tended […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetAdam White masterfully lays out what’s a stake in – and what led to – Trump v. CASA – the U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with the lawfulness of nationwide injunctions issued by lower courts. A slice: That is the real problem underlying all of this. Congress has delegated virtually its entire legislative power to […]
Some Links - Cafe Hayek
TweetHans Bader warns of the harm that will be done by Trump’s tariffs punitive taxes on Americans who purchase imports and import-competing products. A slice: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last month that the European Union made a “zero-for-zero” tariff offer to get rid of its tariffs on American products if the […]
Quotation of the Day... - Cafe Hayek
Tweet… is from pages 200-201 of Johan Norberg’s excellent 2023 book, The Capitalist Manifesto: Politicians who fund a certain technology steer resources away from the innovation and industry that would otherwise have happened. And why would they know better than millions of financiers, companies, researchers, and consumers what will work? DBx: Yes. And note that […]
Heaven Save Us From This 'Negotiator' - Cafe Hayek
TweetHere’s a reply to a commenter at my Facebook page. Mr. Fioru: Like many others who try to justify Trump’s trade ‘policy,’ you describe his tariffs as “a negotiating tactic,” allegedly imposed in response to other countries’ trade restrictions. I find this attempted justification incredible. Forget the inconsistencies that infect Trump’s own various claimed justifications […]