Alexander Albrecht

Paper

Beyond behaviorism, positivism, and neo-institutionalism in economics: a conversation with Deirdre Nansen McCloskey

Paolo Silvestri interviews McCloskey about her forthcoming book, ‘Beyond Behaviorism, Positivism, and Neo-Institutionalism in Economics’, critical of recent economics, especially of neo-institutionalism. Neo-institutionalism uses the ugly character ‘Herr Max U’ as its central idea: the elevation of Prudence to the only virtue. Institutions are mainly intermediate, not ultimate, causes in Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 2 months ago

Paper

Lachezar Grudev: Emigration with a Pulled Handbrake: Friedrich A. Lutz’s Internal Methodenstreit

In his paper, NOUS Young Affiliate Lachezar Grudev reconstructs the path of German economist Friedrich A. Lutz (1901–1975) to American economics. The correspondence with his former teacher Walter Eucken, the founder of the Freiburg School, constitutes a crucial and yet unexplored source for the paper. Through Lutz’s case, he demonstrates Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 2 months ago

Paper

Chandran Kukathas: Are there any Cultural Rights?

“In this essay, I shall argue that while we are right to be concerned about the cultural health of minority communities, this gives us insufficient reason to abandon, modify, or reinterpret liberalism. Far from being indifferent to the claims of minorities, liberalism puts concern for minorities at the forefront. Its Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 2 months2 months ago

Monography

Chandran Kukathas: Immigration and Freedom

Immigration is often seen as a danger to western liberal democracies because it threatens to undermine their fundamental values, most notably freedom and national self-determination. In this book, however, Chandran Kukathas argues that the greater threat comes not from immigration but from immigration control. Kukathas shows that immigration control is Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 2 months ago

Paper

Niclas Berggren and Martin Ljunge: Good Faith and Bad Health: Self-Assessed Religiosity and Self-Assessed Health of Women and Men in Europe

Religion exerts a powerful influence on many people’s lives. In their new paper, NOUS member Niclas Berggren and Martin Ljunge investigate how self-assessed religiosity affects self-assessed health in Europe. Their sample consists of individuals with a native father and an immigrant mother from another European country. This sample allows for Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 2 months1 month ago

Paper

Désirée I. Christofzik, Steffen Elstner, Lars P. Feld & Christoph M. Schmidt: Unraveling the Productivity Paradox: Evidence for Germany

Despite massive digitization efforts, the German economy has experienced a marked slowdown in its productivity growth. In their new paper, NOUS member Lars Feld along with Désirée I. Christofzik, Steffen Elstner, and Christoph M. Schmidt empirically analyze three prominent explanations for this development. First, using a novel quarterly utilization-adjusted total Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 2 months ago

Paper

Chad W. Seagren & David Skarbek: The evolution of norms within a society of captives

How do norms evolve when people have no choice to opt-out of social interactions? One example of such a setting is prison. Past research usually relies on ethnographic work to understand the emergence and maintenance of norms among prisoners. In their new paper, Chad W. Seagren and NOUS member David Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 3 months3 months ago

Monography

Peter J. Boettke, Alexander W. Salter & Daniel J. Smith: Money and the Rule of Law

Contemporary monetary institutions are flawed at a foundational level. The reigning paradigm in monetary policy holds up constrained discretion as the preferred operating framework for central banks. But no matter how smart or well-intentioned are central bankers, discretionary policy contains information and incentive problems that make macroeconomic stability systematically unlikely. Read more…

By Alexander Albrecht, 3 months3 months ago