In this Book
- Economic Sense and Nonsense: Reflections from Europe, 2008-2012
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: Liberty Fund
Economic Sense and Nonsense comprises a collection of sixty essays written by Anthony de Jasay for his monthly column “Reflections from Europe,” on Liberty Fund’s Library of Economics and Liberty website. The articles span the years 2008 to 2012 and focus on economic issues of topical concern in Europe.
In this collection Jasay continues his explorations of a number of themes that he developed in his earlier articles, such as the importance of property rights, the role of contracts in economic activity, the proper limitations of the state, and the attitude of intellectuals concerning the regulation of the free market. With the outbreak of the economic crisis of mid-2008, Jasay spends considerable time discussing its origins, the reactions of governments in both Europe and the United States, and the ensuing euro crisis, thus adding another dimension to his analysis of the economic woes of the industrialized world.
Jasay’s analysis demonstrates that the post–World War II experiment in building welfare states in Europe has reached a crisis point that will require deep and radical changes in thinking both by intellectuals about the nature of free markets and by policy makers about the intended and unintended impact of the regulations they adopt.
Anthony de Jasay is an independent theorist living in France.
Table of Contents
- Part 1. To Spend or Not to Spend?
- 1. To Spend or Not To Spend?
- pp. 3-7
- 7. Two Ways, But Where To?
- pp. 29-33
- 8. The Platinum Rule
- pp. 34-39
- 9. A Fiscal Curb To Tame the State?
- pp. 40-42
- Part 2. The Third Way to Stability?
- 1. Greed, Need, Risk, and Regulation
- pp. 49-58
- 2. Trudging Down the Third Way
- pp. 59-62
- 4. Collective Choice at Work
- pp. 66-69
- 7. They Wanted A New Order
- pp. 78-82
- Part 3: The United States of Europe and America
- 1. The Foolish Quest For Stability
- pp. 85-88
- 7. Euramerica: A Safety-First Economy
- pp. 110-113
- 8. Come and Get Caught in my Trap
- pp. 114-117
- 9. The Use and Abuse of Taxes and Tax Havens
- pp. 118-121
- 10. Russia's Socialist Heritage
- pp. 122-126
- 11. Oil, Gas, and Bluster
- pp. 127-134
- Part 4. The Best of the Worst
- 2. Is Society a Great Big Insurance Company?
- pp. 142-146
- 3. Incomes: Equalizing or Churning?
- pp. 147-150
- 5. Equal, Poverty, Unequal, Affluence
- pp. 156-159
- 6. Topping Up Welfare
- pp. 160-163
- 9. Class War By Judo
- pp. 171-176
- Part 5. Risks' Return
- 2. A Trillion-Dollar "Catastrophe"?
- pp. 184-187
- 4. Is S&P A WMD?
- pp. 193-196
- 6. Weeding Out the "Socially Not Useful"
- pp. 201-204
- Part 6. Cheap Talk as a Weapon of Mass Destruction
- 2. We All Prefer Growth To Austerity
- pp. 211-215
- 3. Micro, Macro, and Fantasy Economics
- pp. 216-219
- 4. Negative Productivity
- pp. 220-223
- 5. Finance in Parrot Talk, Part 1
- pp. 224-228
- 6. Finance in Parrot Talk, Part 2
- pp. 229-231
- 7. Finance in Parrot Talk, Part 3
- pp. 232-235
- 8. Economics Textbooks: Teaching To Despise
- pp. 236-239
- 9. The Bootstrap Theory of the Oil Price
- pp. 240-242
- Part 7. Better Economic Theory or Not?
- 3. The Demise of GDP is Premature
- pp. 253-256
- 4. When Is A Change A Good Thing?
- pp. 257-260
- 5. The Price Of Everything
- pp. 261-264
- 6. Enough Folly is Enough
- pp. 265-267
- Index, Production Notes
- pp. 279-296