Wondering why cars happily stop to let pedestrians cross the road on an island without traffic lights, we can find an answer from Adam Smith.…
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish free market advocate and authored The Wealth of Nations.
When the Price is Always Right
At two gas stations near Rotterdam, price is constantly changing. Using software that recognizes buying behavior, the retailers try to match the price to the customer. Those who are willing to pay mor…
What a Sock Can Teach Us
Manufacturing Socks in a Regional Cluster Helps Firms to Optimize Production…
The Decline of Laissez-Faire
Perhaps it all began when President Lyndon Johnson called Wilbur Mills, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “Wilbur, I’ve just been looking through the polls here, and I’ve only got a few …
Why China Will Make a Better Ballpoint Pen
Until Chinese innovation produces better ballpoint pens, the tips for billions of exports will have to be imported from Germany, Switzerland and Japan.…
A Tale of Two Adam Smiths
Whereas Adam Smith might have valued the Real Junk Food Project, he knew that the market’s agricultural productivity was what really fed people.…
Why We Should Like Uber’s Surge Pricing
People who get angry with Uber’s surge pricing should be willing to accept the tradeoff. Without a higher price, the number of drivers would plunge.…
Traffic Lights and the Downside of Entitlement Spending
An island without traffic lights is like a country with less entitlement spending. By minimizing a national mandate they encourage more individual virtue.…
Why a Hungry Country Might Have Enough Food
Focusing on production and distribution, economists look at the role of markets and of government when they try to determine what causes and ends famines.…
Adam Smith and Traffic Lights
Located 30 miles from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the island of Nantucket has no traffic lights. Instead, drivers respond to stop signs, rotaries, and courtesy. More often than not, if a pedestrian, a wa…