Source: Cobden Centre
by James Turk

“Many modern economists struggle to define money. Often beginning with an historical overview of the concept of moneyness, they generally end by describing the functions of money. What money ‘does’ is not a definition of what money ‘is.’ Another way they strive to define money is with the use of adjectives. A common example is ‘sound money,’ which is like saying ‘wet water.’ The adjective is superfluous because the noun is intuitively understood, or at least should be, as it was to the pioneers of the Austrian School. Although I obviously cannot speak for Menger and Mises, their intuitive understanding of money is different from that of modern writers. It had to be because the environmental factors when they were writing a century or more ago were so very different from today given the then prevailing everyday use of gold and silver.” (01/22/26)

https://www.cobdencentre.org/2026/01/defining-money/

Source: Antiwar.com
by Jeffrey D Sachs and Sybil Fares

“The question is not if the US and Israel will attack Iran, but when. In the nuclear age, the US refrains from all-out war, since it can easily lead to nuclear escalation. Instead, the US and Israel are waging war against Iran through a combination of crushing economic sanctions, targeted military strikes, cyberwarfare, stoking unrest, and unrelenting misinformation campaigns. This combination strategy is called ‘hybrid warfare.'” (01/22/26)

https://original.antiwar.com/jeffrey_sachs/2026/01/21/the-us-israel-hybrid-war-against-iran/?

Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Dr. Edward W Younkins

“At its core, Humanomics aims to integrate moral and social dimensions into the scientific study of economic behavior, recapturing insights from Adam Smith that have been marginalized in mainstream economic theory. Rather than reducing humans to narrow maximizers of utility, Humanomics treats them as sentient, social, purposeful, learning agents whose actions are shaped by sentiments, norms, ethical commitments, and reflective judgment.” (01/22/26)

https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2026/01/does-humanomics-need-moral-anchor.html

Source: Astral Codex Ten

“IIUC, the argument is that people who would not donate to charity themselves find it more congenial to vote to tax other people and give their money to charity. A simple problem with this argument is that actually, each voter’s money will also be taxed. So for example, if there’s a vote on whether to tax everyone an extra $100 and spend the money on foreign aid, then voting in favor of the law costs you $100, the same as if you donated the money yourself voluntarily.” (01/22/26)

https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/slightly-against-the-other-peoples

Source: Washington Monthly
by Claire Kelloway

“During his successful campaign to become New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani promised he would combat rising grocery prices by setting up a city-run grocery store in each of New York’s five boroughs. Critics have slammed the proposal as a socialist fantasy that would only create uncompetitive, Soviet-style stores. They point out, rightly, that other American cities and towns have tried running grocery stores in recent years and their track record is not great. … But if the whole concept of government-run grocery stores is untenable, someone needs to alert the Pentagon, because since 1867, the U.S. military has operated discount grocery stores called commissaries, with great success for active-duty service members, certain veterans, and their families.” (01/22/26)

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/22/how-to-bring-down-grocery-prices/