The issue of economic development has been at the center of economics from its beginnings. Adam Smith, writing in 1776, attempted to determine the factors that led to the wealth of nations. He concluded that low taxes, peace and a workable system of justice would lead to economic growth (Smith...

National defense is the textbook example of a public good. In order to understand how economists present public goods to undergraduates, we analyze 50 texts from across three widely taught undergraduate economics courses: principles of economics, intermediate microeconomics, and public finance....

This paper serves as the Introduction to the symposium celebrating the 40th anniversary of F.A. Hayek's Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science. The symposium papers were presented at a public event held in October 2014 in Arlington, VA and explore the relevance of Hayek's research program for...

This paper provides an overview of some of the key, and neglected, themes in Kenneth Boulding’s scholarship. We discuss three of his books—The Image, Stable Peace, and Three Faces of Power. These books reflect Boulding’s emphasis on individual agency, subjectivism, the nature of knowledge,...

This essay is an entry into the 2005 Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, where we detail the life and upbringing of James Buchanan. In doing so, we pay particular service to his academic development and contributions, which culminated in his winning the 1986 Nobel Prize in Economics