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Mackay, Thomas (1849-1912)

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Thomas Mackay

David M. Hart, Thomas Mackay (1849-1912)

Thomas Mackay (1849-1912) was a successful English wine merchant who retired early from business so he could devote himself entirely to the study of economic…

North, Sir Dudley (1641-1691)

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Source: This biographical information comes from the editor's notes to Commerce, Culture, and Liberty: Readings on Capitalism before Adam Smith, ed. Henry C. Clark (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2003).

Dudley North was…

Locke, John (1632-1704)

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Works by John Locke

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John Locke

Source: Editor's Life in The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes, (London: Rivington, 1824 12th ed.). Vol. 1.

THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.

Mr. John Locke was the son…

Mandeville: His Life and Work

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Works by Bernard de Mandevile

Source: Editor's Introduction to Mandeville's The Fable of the Bees or Private Vices, Publick Benefits, 2 vols. With a Commentary Critical, Historical, and Explanatory by F.B. Kaye…

Guyot, Yves (1843-1928)

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Works by Yves Guyot School of Thought: 19thC French Liberalism

Source: The Tyranny of Socialism, ed. J.H. Levy (London: Swan Sonnenschein and Co., 1894).

INTRODUCTION BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL. BY J.H. LEVY

In…

Sumner: A Sketch

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William Graham Sumner

Source: Editors' Introduction to Sumner's The Challenge of Facts and other Essays, ed. Albert Galloway Keller (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1914).

SKETCH OF WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER1
Petty’s Life and Economic Thought

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William Petty

Source: Extracts from the Introduction to Petty's The Economic Writings of Sir William Petty, together with The Observations upon Bills of Mortality, more probably by Captain John Graunt, ed. Charles…

Life & Works of Richard Cantillon by Henry Higgs

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Richard Cantillon Henry Higgs

Source: Appendix to Cantillon's Essai sur la Nature du Commerce en General, edited with an English translation and other material by Henry Higgs, C.B. Reissued for The Royal Economic…

Étienne Bonnot, Abbé de Condillac (1714-1780)

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Étienne Bonnot, Abbé de Condillac

Source: Commerce and Government Considered in their Mutual Relationship, translated by Shelagh Eltis, with an Introduction to His Life and Contribution to Economics by Shelagh…

Walter Bagehot, a memoir by Richard Holt Hutton

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Walter Bagehot

Source: Walter Bagehot, The Works and Life of Walter Bagehot, ed. Mrs. Russell Barrington. The Works in Nine Volumes. The Life in One Volume. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1915). Vol. 1.…

Paradise Now! Milton, Seinfeld, and the Single Life

We often associate “I’ll never forget where I was when…” memories with tragic events, like the JFK assassination or 9/11. But sometimes we have these memories about happy occasions and other personally and culturally significant…

Burke and the Age of Chivalry

Among the many memorable turns of phrase in Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution France (1790), few have proved more striking than its florid descriptions of Marie Antoinette and her treatment at the hands of the October 6th…

JS Mill:The Principles of Political Economy

In 1848, John Stuart Mill published his Principles of Political Economy. The book was an elaboration on the concepts and ideas developed by Adam Smith and David Ricardo and included applications to social philosophy and political…

John Stuart Mill on Genius and AI Tools

In a short period of time, new, consumer-facing, generative AI tools have exploded in capabilities and applications. Anyone with an internet connection and some time to kill can now use these tools to produce realistic images, short…

The Birth of English (and Roman) Tragedy: Camilla, Diana, and The Aeneid

A few weeks ago we were all witnesses to history when we watched the longest heir-to-the-throne-in-waiting in British history finally ascend the throne in his seventy-fourth year of life. But it wasn’t only King Charles III who made…

Happy Birthday, Adam Smith!

It's Adam Smith's 300th birthday this month! Here are a few ways to celebrate!

The King, the Coronation, and Us: Two nations Separated By a Common Tradition

Unless you have been living under an upturned mountain by now you likely know that this past Saturday Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor (good luck getting all that on to his driver’s license!) was crowned King Charles…

A Meeting of Minds in the Middle of the Street

We lived across a quiet neighborhood street from one another for more than three decades. On the political spectrum, however, we were so far apart that we couldn’t see one another from our houses. On the religion spectrum, we had an…

The Economics of Modern Soccer

With the World Cup concluding yesterday, some readers will be quietly relieved at not having to pay attention to soccer for another four years, while others will be anxiously awaiting the European season’s restart with the English…

Soccer’s Invisible Hand: Globalization

In my previous post in honor of the World Cup, I explored the role that soccer’s early adoption of professionalism played both in its rapid growth and in that tournament’s founding. But that a World Cup was even feasible by the…

Soccer’s Invisible Hand: Professionalism

On Sunday, November 20th, in Qatar, the World Cup kicked off its 22nd edition since debuting in Uruguay in 1930. There is little question, for better or worse, that viewing the World Cup is among the most widely shared human…

Review: Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media by Jacob Mchangama (Basic Books, 2022)

If you tell people you’re working on some project involving free speech, odds are good they will reply with something about how timely that is, since, regardless of whether they identify as liberal or conservative, they likely think…

“What ‘Severance’ Viewers Get Wrong About Infantilizing Office Perks”

A theme in the new TV show Severance is how "perks" serve as incentives at the office.
There are four "data refiners" working in the basement of secretive Lumon Industries. They are supposed to behave according to the corporate…