What Ought to Be if 'There Ought to Be a Law': Remembering Horwitz with Variations on Brennan and Freiman

Abstract

Papers in economics are generally considered incomplete if they do not have “policy implications;” however, the policy implications make a lot of unfounded assumptions about how the policy will be implemented and whether it will be successful. While this might not be the responsibility of an author discussing “policy implications,” the policy implications need to be considered with reference to the considerations laid out by Jason Brennan and Christopher Freiman (2022) and elaborated here. It is, fundamentally, a point reminiscent David Hume made—“ought implies can”—and Steven Horwitz explained it in his scholarship and popular work.

Keywords: intervention, David Hume, Steven Horwitz