Independent Review articles from June 2008

Independent Review archives from June 2008

The anatomy of Social Security and Medicare.(Essay)
June 22, 2008... Social Security in the United States is the largest government expenditure program in the world, with expenditures of $823 billion in 2005. That figure includes only the cash retirement benefits paid. Social Security's companion policy that...

What do the terrorists want?(Essay)
June 22, 2008... The mayhem of 9/11 has been the attention-getting event of modern times, the exclamation point that marks the end of security and the beginning of an age of anxiety. Alas, attention does not imply analysis. The very notoriety of the 9/11...

Commerce is beautiful.(Essay)
June 22, 2008... In Soviet times, all this was a chaotic mess. In contrast, you'd fly over Western Europe and see miles of perfectly cultivated land.... Now Georgia is the same. It's beautiful to look at. That's the aesthetic look of the free market. ...

Mystifying the concept of capital: Hernando de Soto's misdiagnosis of the hindrance to economic development in the Third World.(Critical essay)
June 22, 2008... In his well-publicized book The Mystery of Capital (2000), Hernando de Soto claims to have discovered the explanation for poverty in countries of the Third World and the former Soviet Communist bloc. He claims it is the inability of the poor...

Alvaro Florez Estrada: compromised liberalism in nineteenth-century Spain.(PREDECESSORS)(Critical essay)
June 22, 2008... The Asturian economist Alvaro Florez Estrada (1766-1853) has earned the title of "the most relevant theorist of liberalism" in nineteenth-century Spain by espousing liberal--even "extremely liberal"--ideas "that nobody questions" (Munarriz...

The life and works of Ludwig von Mises.(Biography)
June 22, 2008... Ludwig von Mises ( 18 81 - 19 7 3) was one of the most important economists of the twentieth century. Even if he had made no other contribution over a professional lifetime that spanned seven decades, his place in the history of economic ideas...

Economic analysis, moral philosophy, and public policy.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Daniel M. Hausman, a philosopher, and Michael S. McPherson, an economist, have written Economic Analysis, _Moral Philosophy, and Public Policy (2d ed., New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006) to convince their readers, especially but not...

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy By John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. Pp. xii, 484. $26.00. America's favorite son, the indebted, slaveholding bon vivant Thomas...

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies By Scott E. Page Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2007. Pp. xx, 424. $27.95. During World War II, the British brought...

Globalization and Its Enemies.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Globalization and Its Enemies By Daniel Cohen Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006. Pp. 256. $27.95 cloth. In Globalization and Its Enemies, Daniel Cohen deals with an important and timely topic, but he does so inadequately. The...

Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Resisting the State: Reform and Retrenchment in Post-Soviet Russia By Kathryn Stoner-Weiss New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. 167. $80.00 cloth. Kathryn Stoner-Weiss is associate director for research and senior...

Punishment and Inequality in America.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Punishment and Inequality in America By Bruce Western New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2006. Pp. xiv, 247. $29.95 cloth. Over the past decade or so, the rate of violent crime has reached lows unseen in the United States...

From the Corn Laws to Free Trade: Interests, Ideas, and Institutions in Historical Perspective.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... From the Corn Laws to Free Trade: Interests, Ideas, and Institutions in Historical Perspective By Cheryl Schonhardt-Bailey Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2006. Pp. xiv, 426. $47.50. In From the Corn Laws to Free Trade, Cheryl...

The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond By Barry Eichengreen Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2006. Pp. xvii, 495. $35.00 cloth. Barry Eichengreen's book The European Economy since 1945...

Locke: A Biography.(Book review)
June 22, 2008... Locke: A Biography By Roger Woolhouse Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xxx, 528. $39.99 It is common, even among philosophers, to joke about how little influence philosophers have on the world. But that...

Military spending/gross domestic product = nonsense for budget policymaking.(Etceteras)(Editorial)
June 22, 2008... Had we been inclined to borrow a phrase from Ronald Reagan, we might have chided the Pentagon bigwigs by saying, "Well, there you go again." Early this year, as in virtually every year since the Korean War, the military chiefs tried to minimize...