Author Archive | Todd Zywicki

Another outstanding Forum on the Law and Liberty blog, this time on the Constitution and the common law.  The main essay is by Jim Stoner with comments by John McGinnis and Hadley Arkes.  Highly recommended. Adam Pritchard and I took a crack at this issue about 15 years ago, very much in the spirit of […]

Bob Price has written up excerpts from an interview with Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain commenting on various issues in the controversial GM, Delphi, and Hostess bankruptcies.  While I disagree with some of Price’s points it seems to me that he is correct in his key observation, which is that although the presence of a collective-bargaining […]

The Institute for Humane Studies has just rolled out a new online program called “Learn Liberty Academy.”  It is set up to integrate IHS’s very popular “Learn Liberty” videos with webcast lectures and interactions with professors on various topics such as drug prohibition, poverty, that national debt, and other topics.

here.  A few brief excerpts: In Why Tolerate Religion? Brian Leiter, author of theLeiter Reports blog and a law professor at the University of Chicago who has an interest in philosophy, asks why Western democracies have sought to promote and protect religion—and religious liberty—in both law and culture. *** What to make of this? Leiter’s argument suffers from […]

I wanted to make sure to express a heartfelt and humble thank you to the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics for winning its 2012 prize for Best Article in Austrian Economics for my co-authored article (with Ed Stringham) “Hayekian Anarchism.”  And, of course, special thanks to Ed for collaborating with me on the […]

I’ve posted a new article on SSRN that will be part of a symposium on “Libertarian Legal Theory” organized by the Chapman Law Review, “Libertarianism, Law and Economics, and The Common Law“: Abstract:  This article was prepared as a contribution to the Chapman Law Review’s symposium on “Libertarian Legal Theory.” While libertarian legal theory and […]

I’m passing along for interest a call for papers for a conference next year on “equality as a social and political ideal guiding public policy”: The George Washington Forum on American Ideas, Politics, and Institutions, which has its home at Ohio University, invites paper proposals for a conference and subsequent edited volume on Equality and Public […]

A nifty little tv spot on the Institute for Justice’s efforts to challenge irrational licensing laws.  Remarkably the reporter here seems to have gotten the absurdity of how these things actually work.  And my sometimes co-author Anthony Sanders makes an appearance.  A nice little teaching tool for those trying to understand the reality of how […]

I have the lead essay in a Liberty Forum discussion on the economics and political economy of Kelo.  The thrust of the argument is that Kelo is not defensible under the standard economics analysis of takings law and creates political economy problems.  So I argue, for example, that the terms of Kelo arguably create a […]

Paul Krugman has had an epiphany about why banks don’t like Barack Obama: But Konczal points out that there’s a more mundane financial reason Wall Street is mad at Obama: financial reform, even if it’s weaker than we might like (and it is, much), will undermine several highly profitable rackets. More transparent markets for derivatives […]

Hans Bader makes some interesting and provocative arguments about Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler–particularly whether it is creating a situation where Fiat is actually milking Chrysler.  Hans also argues that to some extent GM’s recovery has been inflated because of the hangover effect of Toyota’s safety recalls.

AEI and the Federalist Society are teaming up for a program next week on David Skeel’s new book “When States Go Broke.”  Registration and other info are available here.  Video of the program will be uploaded on the Internet as well.

Congratulations to Lawson Bader and to the Competitive Enterprise Institute for naming Lawson its new President, as successor to the irreplaceable Fred Smith. (I was honored to be part of the search committee for CEI to recommend candidates to the board.)

That’s the headline in the WSJ today as Ford finishes up its plan that began in 2006 to turnaround the company.  Ford turned a $20 billion profit in 2011. Ford’s radical business philosophy, according to Mark Fields, who reportedly supervised Ford’s turnaround plan: “Our whole approach is to make sure we deal with reality and we […]

I have a review of Neil Barofsky’s book Bailout over at the Liberty Law Blog today.  Barfosky was the original Special Inspector General for the TARP and wrote a memoir of his experience.  Interesting book.