Ronald Coase writes very well, he is one of only a handful of economists who I know who can actually writes well. David Friedman and Hazllitt are superb. Hayek is a cure for insomnia.
Ronald Case – Stupid Ideas Highlighter
Ronald Coase has a a great talent for destroying stupid ideas. Stupid ideas can be very dangerous. Stupid ideas that have been repeated so often, usually by supposedly very clever people, can lead to the public to believing in them.
Stupid Ideas – Some Examples
He explained that for a very long time in his great book, “The Firm, The Market and the Law” that lighthouses were provided not by the state but by private firms. Not such a big deal you’d think. But, given that most economic textbooks contend that the service of lighthouse provision is a public good, that only the state can provide, and everyone else should pay for, you start to see that this nice englishman has some very dangerous ideas.
Stupid Ideas Today – Chinese Communist Party Believes in Capitalism
Well, he’s still going strong at 100 years. The Economist’s 100th birthday piece on his output is excellent. He is still overthrowing some very stupid ideas. The idea that the Chinese Communist Party embraced capitalism in all but name is widely promoted. It probably makes things easier when you are dealing with a country led by a vicious regime. A dictatorship openlinly embracing capitalism surely can’t be that bad. He destroys that idea in “How China Became Capitalist“.
But, would you change your mind if that did not happen?
Well, to find out what really happened, you may enjoy watching Ronald Coase.