In randomized control laboratory experiments, we find that those primed to think about markets exhibit more trusting behavior. We randomly and unconsciously prime experimental participants to think about markets and trade. We then ask them to play a trust game involving an anonymous stranger. We...

This paper explores the importance of international trade in generating both immediate economic benefits and broader benefits of peace. We discuss the theoretical foundations of international trade as a source of economic and non-economic benefits that foster peace. Next, we review the empirical...

What is the connection between mass surveillance and institutions of individual agency, freedom, and self-governance? Recent literature on “surveillance capitalism” argues that over the past two decades, the capitalist system has been transformed by Big Tech companies, which have commodified...

This paper discusses the unique features of Austrian economics and some of the recent contributions of this school of thought. We organize these contributions in different research “buckets” in the hope that this will be a useful guide to readers while demonstrating the ongoing relevance of...

This paper analyzes the political economy of the creeping militarization of U.S. foreign policy. The core argument is that in integrating the 3D approach -- defense, development, and diplomacy -- policymakers have assigned responsibilities to military personnel which go beyond their comparative...

Prevailing ideology holds that democracy is a system of government where people govern themselves. This ideology clashes with the unavoidable recognition that in any but small towns and villages governance is an activity wherein a few govern and the many are governed. This situation is an...

We conducted a survey by mail in 2013 of randomly selected economics professors in the United States about the welfare effects of three proposed policy reforms. We received back 574 completed surveys (a 19 percent response rate). A large majority supported a reform to increase immigration into...

A sample of 299 U.S. economics professors responded to our 2010 survey, which asked: “Suppose you are reading or listening to an economist, and he discloses his own ideological proclivities. Which best represents your attitude toward his doing so:” The results surprised us. Sixty-three...

This paper treats the structure of economic theory as a product of spontaneously ordered relationships among theorists in a setting where different institutional frameworks can govern those relationships. Those differences generate different selection principles among economic theories and,...

This essay treats entangled political economy within the history of political economy. It explains that entangled political economy is not so much a new development in economics as it is a revisitation of some old themes that were swept aside in the conversion of political economy into economics...