Independent Review articles from June 2004

Independent Review archives from June 2004

Who predicted the bubble? Who predicted the crash?
June 22, 2004... Science is prediction. --Motto of the Econometrics Society Those who have knowledge, don't predict. Those who predict, don't have knowledge. --Lao Tzu, sixth-century B.C. Chinese poet Predicting economic behavior is inherently...

Weakened immunity: how the food and drug administration caused recent vaccine-supply problems.
June 22, 2004... Since 2000 in the United States, there have been serious supply problems involving nearly all childhood vaccines recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (1) Such problems have occurred with other vaccines as...

Bending before the storm: the U.S. Supreme Court in economic crisis, 1935-1937.
June 22, 2004... It all began with the great slump of 1931.... There followed the iron 30s,... the dark and leaden 30s, to which, alone of all periods, no one... wishes to return, unless indeed they lament the passing of Fascism. --Isaiah Berlin,...

Law as a weapon: how RICO subverts liberty and the true purpose of law.
June 22, 2004... In the past three decades, a veritable revolution has occurred in U.S. criminal law. It has taken place for the most part at the federal level, where the number of crimes with which individuals can be charged has grown rapidly. Once there were...

Anthony de Jasay: a life in the service of liberty.(Tribute)
June 22, 2004... Anthony de Jasay is one of the most significant social philosophers of our age. He began his scholarship in economics, and in his writings he has focused on the relationships among the economy, the state, and the individual. He has never been...

Commerce, markets, and peace: Richard Cobden's enduring lessons.(Precursors)
June 22, 2004... The progress of freedom depends more upon the maintenance of peace and the spread of commerce and the diffusion of education than upon the labour of Cabinets or Foreign Offices. --Richard Cobden In a 1944 review of F. A. Hayek's Road...

Did Greenspan deserve support for another term?(Reflections)
June 22, 2004... On April 22, 2003, President George W. Bush declared in response to a reporter's question, "I think Alan Greenspan should get another term" (Maer and Associated Press 2003; see also Hill 2003). Bush's expression of support for Greenspan's...

Black teachers for black studies? A philosophical critique of multiculturalist pedagogy.(Reflections)
June 22, 2004... On a recent TV talk show, one discussant said that only black people are competent to teach the history of black people. His displays of contempt for his opponent suggested that he thought his proposition beyond reasonable dispute. Why did he...

The Case Against the Democratic State.(Book Review)
June 22, 2004... * The Case Against the Democratic State By Gordon Graham Charlottesville, Va.: Imprint Academic, 2002. Pp. 96. $17.90. This slim volume is part of a publishing program called "Societas: Essays in Moral and Cultural Criticism,"...

Downsizing Democracy: How America Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public.(Book Review)
June 22, 2004... * Downsizing Democracy: How America Sidelined Its Citizens and Privatized Its Public By Matthew A. Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. Pp. xiv, 294. $29.95 cloth, $18.95 paperback. ...

The Debates of Liberty: An Overview of Individualist Anarchism, 1881-1908.(Book Review)
June 22, 2004... * The Debates of Liberty: An Overview of Individualist Anarchism, 1881-1908 By Wendy McElroy Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003. Pp. 208. $60.00 cloth. Wendy McElroy's new book is a valuable asset for those interested in...

Lies, damn lies, and conventional measures of the growth of government.(Etceteras ...)
June 22, 2004... Many of us who believe that governments continue to grow relentlessly, at least in the economically advanced countries, have been criticized by analysts who claim that in fact the growth of government has petered out or slowed substantially....