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Abstract:
We estimate the impacts of county-level Walmart Discount Store, Walmart Supercenter, and warehouse club presence on individual body weight, obesity status, food consumption, and exercise. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that cheap food causes weight gain, we find no evidence that any of these stores increase weight or lead to less healthy eating habits. Warehouse club entry is actually associated with reductions in weight, obesity, junk food intake, and eating at restaurants as well as increases in fruit and vegetable consumption. These results suggest that bulk buying is a more important determinant of body weight than food prices, at least in this context. Buying groceries in bulk may lead to healthier eating by allowing individuals to counteract self-control problems by constraining future choices.

Walmart, Wal-Mart, Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s Wholesale Club, warehouse clubs, obesity, body weight, body mass index

Abstract:
Being an academic, particularly an academic economist, is a task that requires a great deal of preparation and effort. It also requires a great deal of travel. This essay provides helpful suggestions on how to be a Great Conference Participant.

Abstract:
This essay surveys some of the key themes in Southern economic history and traces the development of the region through the colonial and revolutionary eras, the antebellum period, the Civil War and Reconstruction, the post-bellum period, and the modern period. In particular, I highlight the findings of economic historians on the economics of slavery and focus on the development of Southern institutions in light of the antebellum slave society. The resurgence of the Southern economy is examined in light of recent hypotheses about technological change, policy, and productivity growth.

South, slavery, institutions, development, economic history

Abstract:
Do environmental initiatives like carbon accounting provide a viable alternative to monetary calculation based on profit and loss? Economic insights about calculation and imputation suggest that they do not provide a reliable, rational guide to action. Non-monetary calculation of the environmental effects of action runs into the same problems of in natura calculation and commonly-owned means of production. The information needed for rational economizing does not exist when we forsake the price mechanism. A legal regime based on strict private property rights solves environmental problems. Relaxed restrictions on property rights can generate environmental benefits and reduce our contribution to environmental degradation. Examples include the elimination of restrictions on housing markets and privatization of municipal recycling and garbage collection.

Environmental Economics, Calculation, Sustainable Development, Recycling, Price Mechanism, Private Property

Abstract:
This essay examines some of the key claims made in Naomi Klein's "The Shock Doctrine."

Abstract:
Social capital has attracted increasing attention in recent years. We use county-level and individual survey data to study how Wal-Mart affects social capital. Estimates using several proxies for social capital — such as club membership, religious activity, time with friends, and other measures — do not support the thesis that "Wal-Mart destroys communities" by reducing social capital. We measure exposure to Wal-Mart two ways: Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents and Wal-Marts per 10,000 residents aggregated over years since 1979 to capture a more cumulative "Wal-Mart Effect." We find that coefficients on Wal-Mart's presence are statistically insignificant in most specifications.

social capital, Wal-Mart, Walmart, social

Abstract:
We investigate the relationship between exposure to "authoritarian" or "autocratic" institutions for prolonged periods of time and long-term economic development. Specifically, we examine how the length of time a country's regime was authoritarian between 1920 and 2000 is correlated with economic growth and per capita income. We find a moderate though negative effect, even after controlling for other factors. In contrast, we also find that the length of time a country is not subject to authoritarian regimes is positively related to economic growth and the level of per capital income. We claim this evidence is consistent with the thesis that one of the reasons why countries have had difficulty adjusting to life after autocracy is that the human and social capital necessary to make markets "work" eroded under autocratic regimes and takes time to develop afterward.

authoritarianism, autocracy, institutions, development

Abstract:
This essay explores the relationship between commerce and culture in the context of the recent debate over the social effect of Wal-Mart. In spite of much public debate, little is known about how Wal-Mart affects values. Using data collected from multiple sources, we show there is little evidence that Wal-Mart makes communities more conservative or more progressive.

Wal-Mart, values, retail, social capital

Abstract:
This review considers the contributions in Making Poor Nations Rich, edited by Benjamin Powell. The review explores how the essays in this volume complement existing cross-country empirical studies of the causes and consequences of economic development.

Abstract:
This essay contributes to the debate about the alleged spillover effects associated with Wal-Mart’s growth. Combining county-level data on Wal-Mart entry and location from 1985 through 1998 with individual-level data on leisure activities, we estimate a positive relationship between Wal-Mart penetration and participation in activities involving inputs that can be bought at Wal-Mart. The relationship between Wal-Mart penetration and activities that do not involve inputs that can be bought at Wal-Mart is negative in most cases but may be positive or zero for “cultural” activities such as attending classical music concerts and visiting art galleries. The evidence is consistent with the thesis that deeper Wal-Mart penetration expands consumption possibilities.(JELA13, D00, C12, Z11, Z13)

Abstract:
This essay contributes to the debate about the alleged spillover effects associated with Wal-Mart's growth. Combining county-level data on Wal-Mart entry and location from 1985 through 1998 with individual-level data on leisure activities, we estimate a positive relationship between Wal-Mart penetration and participation in activities involving inputs that can be bought at Wal-Mart. The relationship between Wal-Mart penetration and activities that do not involve inputs that can be bought at Wal-Mart is negative in most cases, but may be positive or zero for "cultural" activities such as attending classical music concerts and visiting art galleries. The evidence is consistent with the thesis that deeper Wal-Mart penetration expands consumption possibilities.

Abstract:
This is a review of Paul Heyne, "Are Economists Basically Immoral?", edited by Geoffrey Brennan and AMC Waterman.

economics, ethics, religion, Christianity

Abstract:
Corruption supposedly reduces economic development by creating an uncertain contracting environment and by preventing the state from efficiently providing public goods and correcting externalities. However, corruption can be efficiency-enhancing in countries with relatively little economic freedom. Corruption in the military appears to reduce economic growth, while corruption in the educational environment appears to increase economic growth.

Abstract:
The classic noir film The Third Man tells a story of a staged death, an over-inquisitive friend, and a hopeless lover, in the dark world of postwar Vienna. It is also an excellent demonstration of the effects of price controls and rationing, and of the unpleasant consequences of the resulting black markets. This essay shows how we can understand a character's actions using economic insights. More generally, we explore the economics of government price controls and coupon rationing and suggest that The Third Man provides a vivid illustration of their impact.

Abstract:
Evidence suggests that foreign aid does not promote economic growth. Institutions which promote entrepreneurship do promote growth. Understanding where these institutions come from is paramount to success. This essay analyzes and summarizes theory and evidence regarding the relationship between aid and economic growth.

Economic Growth, Foreign Aid, Institutions, Property Rights

Abstract:
Southern economic history is inseparable from Southern legal history. This essay surveys several cases and examples before and after the Civil War to illustrate some of the problems associated with large-scale institutional change in settings where the array of property rights and the structure of social capital are in conflict with one another.

Abstract:
This essay explores the relationship between beliefs and economic policy in the context of gasoline prices after Hurricane Katrina. Evidence of "anti-market bias" is identified in polling data, press releases, and legislation, and it is argued that the uncertainty emanating from statutes restricting "price gouging" may reduce investment in the provision of "necessary goods and services" after natural disasters.

Abstract:
We survey perspectives on the economic differences between countries and argue that economic freedom is the key to prosperity. We close by outlining the policy implications. Specifically, removing obstacles to the exercise of economic freedom is an important step toward prosperity.

Planning, economic progress, economic development, entrepreneurship

Abstract:
Profits and losses provide powerful incentives. This essay explores the roles of profits and entrepreneurs in a market economy. In a market with secure private property rights, profits are a reliable guide that directs productive activity. Profits reward entrepreneurs for successfully adjusting the structure of production to better suit the wants of consumers. This has implications for Michel de Montaigne's thesis that one's profit is another's loss: while this seems like an attractive (and intuitive) proposition, profits arise when an entrepreneur is able to satisfy consumer wants. This essay applies Ludwig von Mises' thesis that the source of human action is the desire to remove "felt uneasiness." For example, in a situation in which an entrepreneur alleviates discomfort, it is the opportunity to alleviate the discomfort that is the source of the profit and not the discomfort itself.

profits, losses, entrepreneurs

Abstract:
This essay summarizes and applies some of the key insights in Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter. We discuss the relevance of cheap signals in increasingly-complex political systems as well as the relevance of ideas in public policy with "rationally irrational" voters. We also add a fifth bias, "stick-it-to-the-man bias," to Caplan's proposed anti-market, anti-foreign, make-work, and pessimistic biases. We apply these biases to current debates in environmental policy. Combined, these biases give us cause to be skeptical of attempts to correct market failures through the political system.

Rational Irrationality, Environmental Economics, Public Choice

Abstract:
This short note discusses the role of profits and losses in organizing information. I explore the ethical status of a firm earning losses and argue that to earn a loss reveals important information about the production plans that are likely to be successful. I further argue that the information revealed in a profit-and-loss economy is socially beneficial.

profit, loss, social responsibility

Abstract:
This is a short review of "Holy Discontent" by Bill Hybels.

Abstract:
Review of Nelson Lichtenstein, ed. "Wal-Mart: The Face of Twenty-First-Century Capitalism."

Wal-Mart, Walmart, entrepreneurship, social economics

Abstract:
Free markets in capital and labor are essential to rapid recovery from natural disaster. Political and rhetorical responses to Hurricane Katrina included denunciation of price gougers in the market for gasoline; the arbitrariness associated with anti-price gouging legislation may create uncertainty that reduces the attractiveness of the investment climate.

Katrina, disaster, weather, rhetoric, political economy

Abstract:
Ludwig von Mises argued that capital goods were 'conservative elements' that constrain future production decisions. Similarly, social capital and institutions also constrain future production decisions. These insights are applied to the institutional transformation of the post-Reconstruction American South. It is argued that the structure of social capital that developed in the South was inappropriate to the formal institutions that emerged as a result of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The tensions between institutions and social capital are examined in the context of racist lynching.

institutions, US South, racism, lynching

Abstract:
This essay examines economic stagnation by extending the argument that capital goods and "conservative elements" to the analysis of social capital and institutions in the post-Reconstruction South. It is argued that the structure of social capital that developed in the South was inappropriate to the formal institutions that emerged as a result of the Civil War and Reconstruction. The tensions between institutions and social capital are examined in the context of racist lynching.

institutions, US South, racism, lynching

Abstract:
Review of Randall Holcombe, "Entrepreneurship and Economic Progress."

entrepreneurship, economic progress, growth, Austrian economics

Abstract:
Government structures are more bureaucratic (and their policies more redistributive) in the European Union than in the United States. The more 'statist' character of Europe is hardly a surprise given the leading role of France in the post-WWII integration of the continent. Economic freedom was never a priority for the French monarchs and republican parliaments. Admiration for the "invisible hand" of the market may have inspired brilliant thinkers such as Cantillon, Say, and Bastiat, but theirs were voices crying in the desert of interventionism. We explore European bureaucracy from the institutional changes of the late Roman Empire through the French Revolution.

Abstract:
This is a review of David M. Primo's book 'Rules and Restraint: Government Spending and the Design of Institutions'.

mechanism design, institutions, rules

Abstract:
Do we really know whether or not we have "maximized" utility, or do we just know that we are "happy" or "sad"? We argue that we can never know objectively whether or not utility has been maximized; however, people acting on a free market are sufficiently close to the decision as to be able to hazard a better guess about their opportunity costs than policy makers.

Abstract:
In The Invisible Hook, Peter T. Leeson explores “the hidden economics of pirates.” The implications of his work are many, and there are several clear ways in which scholars can build on his insights. First, exploring piracy helps us better understand the rent-seeking societies of mercantilist Europe. Second, public and private policy toward pirates helps us better understand the institutions and organizations that emerge in order to govern and manage common resources. Third, the nearly universal condemnation of pirates by religious authorities and political leaders as well as the association of pirates with the demonic and Satanic suggests further directions for research into the interactions between ideology, politics, and economic institutions.

Austrian Economics, New Institutional Economics, pirates, trade, organization, rent-seeking

Abstract:
This is a review of Josh Waitzkin's "The Art of Learning."

Learning

Abstract:
This is a draft of a review of Richard Land's "The Divided States of America? What Liberals AND Conservatives are Missing in the God-and-Country Shouting Match."

religion, foreign affairs, conservatism, liberalism