Source: David Friedman’s Substack
by David Friedman
“When I first published my interpretation of the implications of Coase’s article ‘The Problem of Social Cost,’ Coase was a colleague of mine at the University of Chicago Law School. His comment on the piece was that one never understands one’s ideas until someone else explains them to you. I suspected at the time that the comment was intended to be gently critical of my interpretation, only worked out more precisely why many years later, rereading the body of his work in the process of writing a review of his final book. Coase thought of the article primarily as a critique of modern economics. Since I was an economist with a position in a law school I read it for its implications for constructing legal systems. This is an account of his ideas from my point of view, not necessarily his.” (03/23/26)
“How much would it cost to bribe a Daily Caller writer for positive coverage? It could be cheaper than you think. According to a newly unearthed ledger kept by a Washington lobbyist who tracked his payments to conservative bloggers, it took only $500 to buy a story in the publication, which was one of a handful caught in the latest payola scandal. And though the story appeared under the byline of the Caller’s managing editor, prosecutors who unearthed the ledger say it was actually ghostwritten by the company that effectively bought the coverage. The spreadsheet listing these transactions was seized by the FBI as part of a 2020 investigation into a fraudulent cryptocurrency promoted by infamous Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.” (03/24/26)
“War allows governments to increase spending, taxes, and regulations in order to feed the war machine. Wars can justify measures that remain in place long after the wars end. An example of this is income tax withholding that was created to fund World War Two. The use of war as a justification for increased interference in the market is reason enough for libertarians to oppose war. However, war also enables the government to violate liberty.” (03/23/26)
“RISAA attempts to limit the use of Section 702 for purely domestic criminal investigations by prohibiting queries conducted solely to find evidence of a crime unrelated to foreign intelligence or national security. That constraint, however, is narrower than it may appear. RISAA does not impose a warrant requirement for U.S. person queries, and it allows queries to proceed where a foreign intelligence or national security nexus can be asserted. In practice, queries are almost never characterized as being conducted solely for evidence-of-a-crime purposes. This dynamic is at the center of the warrant requirement debate.” (03/24/26)
“European consumer group Euroconsumers along with Football Supporters Europe have filed a complaint with the European Commission accusing FIFA of abusing its monopoly over World Cup ticket sales to impose excessive prices and unfair conditions on fans. The complaint, obtained by POLITICO, alleges breaches of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which prohibits abuses of a dominant market position. … The groups point to a range of alleged abusive practices, including limited transparency on ticket categories and seat allocation, a ‘variable pricing’ system that can push prices higher over time, and the actual scarcity of tickets advertised from $60.” (03/24/26)
“Charles Goyette (NY Times bestselling author of The Dollar Meltdown and Red and Blue and Broke all Over) on his new book, Empire of Lies: Fragments from the Memory Hole; also comes on to catch up, discuss current economic and political issues …” (03/23/26)
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
“We tend to focus on why immigrants want to come to the U.S., but we talk much less about why the U.S. wants immigrants to come to this country—i.e., why, xenophobic rhetoric notwithstanding, so many Americans have quietly and consistently welcomed them. The foremost reason for this is simply that Americans don’t want to have babies. For decades now, the fertility rate among native-born Americans has been below the replacement rate (2.1). … Not surprisingly, the native-born work force has diminished by several million since peaking in 2005 and now amounts to less than 140 million. If no foreign workers are added to the economy, in a few years, the labor force will shrink much more dramatically, reflecting the impact of the currently dismal fertility rate.” (03/23/26)
“Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS) has been tasked with integrating its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid eligibility systems while preparing for new community engagement requirements. This integration has been needed for years, but the new federal rules make it urgent. The goal is straightforward: simplify how benefits are administered while reducing costly errors. If Missouri cannot bring those error rates down, the state will be responsible for a larger share of program costs.” [editor’s note: Why not just eliminate the “benefits,” and with them the need for that “administration?” – TLK] (03/24/26)
