Comments on: America's Next Top Hayekian Public Intellectual

By: table tennis conversion top

table tennis conversion top — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 05:28:26 +0000

Douglass North is really a remarkable man his noble prize winning work is undoubtedly one of the best around. I just got to know him through an essay on noble prize winners. Their economics theories are really amazing.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:19:00 +0000

You're winning, Will.

It's a shame that more people don't know about Vernon Smith. This is a Nobel winner whose experiments show, empirically, the power of markets.

By: Steve C

Steve C — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 02:10:30 +0000

This must be “Hayek”, the man who railed against the welfare state in the minds of American Hayek fans, vs actual Hayek.

Also Hayek was wrong, incremental moves toward stronger state control of the economy or a stronger regulatory state – these don't lead toward authoritarianism. Nice theory though!

By: Andrew fly

Andrew fly — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:44:57 +0000

Damn Will, you are slaying the competition

By: Jesse Walker

Jesse Walker — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 00:46:51 +0000

You know, if a bunch of us would all vote for Mark Levin, that would really fuck with people's heads.

By: John V

John V — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:43:33 +0000

He was kidding.

By: Lars

Lars — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:54:50 +0000

VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN!

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:26:45 +0000

Fine, Will. I'll go vote for you.

By: Number 6

Number 6 — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:50:55 +0000

I voted for you, Will, despite some of the others being more well-known. I did so not only because I enjoy your stuff, but because you are among the few libertarian (or Hayekian, in this case) thinkers who is willing to admit uncertainty, think carefully, and entertain ideas outside of the traditional libertarian cannon.
Your commentary on NPR this morning was a perfect example. Ending with the observation that you're not sure what lessons to take from other country, but that the Great Depression isn't a valid model was intellectually honest (humble, even) and actually contributed something useful to the discussion.

With that, I'll go ahead and switch off fanboy mode.

By: h

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 07:48:37 +0000

Doug North is awesome – I used to work in his office as a lowly undergrad. He was always nice to me and a peppery bastard to ignorant journalists who just wanted a quote from a Nobel laureate.

By: James Mason

James Mason — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:50:06 +0000

Boudreaux and Roberts are economists at GMU; the former is the Chairman of the Econ Dep't. They run a great blog at cafehayek.com

By: poll: The Top Hayekian Public Intellectuals in America — Preliminary Results

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 03:25:45 +0000

[...] Will Wilkinson has made a late surge with a direct appeal to his blog readers; Frank Shostak was disqualified for living in Australia; and D. W. MacKenzie was disqualified for [...]

By: Cool Cal

Cool Cal — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 22:37:13 +0000

I'd like to see you in public. As I've said many times before, it would be nice to see an articulate and genuinely intelligent defender of free markets, choice, and all that jazz on one of these shows like Real Time or Maddow instead of the easy targets they get to represent the opposition in order to seem like intellectual giants themselves. I mean, come on … how hard can it be to outwit Pat Buchanan in a debate about the moral and logical virtues of SCHIP, even if you're on the “pro” side. You don't need to be a Rhodes Scholar, I'll tell you that much. Besides, they are essentially both economic isolationists. I'm telling you, that pair is less a real policy debate, and more like a political Statler and Waldorf.

By: Jeff Westcott

Jeff Westcott — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:50:37 +0000

I miss seeing that picture behind you on bloggingheads.