Anyone Who Thinks That The Last 80

[i]f One Asks What Substantive Contributions [f. A. Hayek] Made To Our Understanding Of How The World Works, One Is Left At Something Of A Loss. Were It Not For His Politics, He Would Be Virtually Forgotten.

Until The Great Depression, Most Economists Clung To A Vision Of Capitalism As A Perfect Or Nearly Perfect System. That Vision Wasn’t Sustainable In The Face Of Mass Unemployment, But As Memories Of The Depression Faded, Economists Fell Back In Love With The Old, Idealized Vision Of An Economy In Which Rational Individuals Interact In Perfect Markets.

In Short, What The Living Wage Is Really About Is Not Living Standards, Or Even Economics, But Morality. Its Advocates Are Basically Opposed To The Idea That Wages Are A Market Price-determined By Supply And Demand, The Same As The Price Of Apples Or Coal. And It Is For That Reason, Rather Than The Practical Details, That The Broader Political Movement Of Which The Demand For A Living Wage Is The Leading Edge Is Ultimately Doomed To Failure: For The Amorality Of The Market Economy Is Part Of Its Essence, And Cannot Be Legislated Away.

Not All Private Equity People Are Evil. Only Some.

I Think So Long As Fossil Fuels Are Cheap, People Will Use Them And It Will Postpone A Movement Towards New Technologies.