Category: Series

Whether President Trump overreacted to the recent BLS is irrelevant to the fact that government data often is inaccurate and politically suspect. 

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/no-matter-who-president-dont-trust-government-data

"Anarcho-Capitalism is good in theory, but it would never work in the real world." That is a common objection to A-C, but is it correct? What are the objections and how do we answer them. Stanisław Wójtowicz provides some answers.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/anarcho-capitalism-nine-most-important-objections

Peter Van Doren and David Kemp bring libertarian skepticism to the bipartisan political support for nuclear power. They analyze why regulatory reform alone may not solve nuclear's economic problems and discuss how recent U.S. projects have failed to deliver on promises of cost-effectiveness even after a supposed "renaissance" in the late 2000s. They finish up with a discussion on whether small modular reactors (SMRs) are the nuclear silver bullet.

Show Notes:

Peter Van Doren and David Kemp, Nuclear Power in the Context of Climate Change, Cato Institute Working Paper, April 27, 2023. https://www.cato.org/working-paper/nuclear-power-context-climate-change.

David Kemp and Peter Van Doren, "Would a Carbon Tax Rejuvenate Nuclear Energy?" Regulation 45, no. 3 (Fall 2022). https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2022/would-carbon-tax-rejuvenate-nuclear-energy.

David Kemp, "Nuclear Power’s Newest Cautionary Tale," Cato at Liberty (blog), January 23, 2024. https://www.cato.org/blog/nuclear-powers-newest-cautionary-tale.

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Apparently, Ireland's government has not learned any lessons from rent control disasters elsewhere. Thus, the Irish will have to learn this hard lesson and face the consequences of their economic folly.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/bad-worse-irish-rent-control

Since his return to office, President Trump has waged something of a pressure campaign on economic data and the people in charge of delivering it. His firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner following a weak jobs report now has some wondering: can we still trust the official numbers? Today on the show, we're resharing our conversation with former BLS commissioner, Erica Groshen on her current fears for the integrity of government data. The original version of this story aired March 7, 2025.

Related:
What really goes on at the Bureau of Labor Statistics? (Update) (Apple / Spotify)
Would you trust an economist with your economy? (Apple / Spotify)

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A yacht—like any good exchanged on the free market—represents countless value-maximizing exchanges and represents an industry that employs thousands of people to provide goods and services to others.

Original article: https://mises.org/power-market/jeff-bezoss-yacht-driver-economic-activity

Understanding any era of history requires the ability to view complex things. However, people often employ simple narratives as their historical guides, which leads to wrong conclusions. The pre-war history of the American South is one that is much more complex than the narratives imply.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/complexity-historical-narratives

What use is the Fed's supposed devotion to being "data-driven" when the data itself is unreliable and the Fed is basing its policies on data that is thoroughly wrong?

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/fed-says-it-data-driven-data-isnt-any-good