Read more
Each day, Donald Boudreaux, professor of economics at George Mason University, writes a letter to the editor of a major American publication. Often, he writes in response to an absurdity offered up by a columnist or politician, or an eye-catching factoid misleadingly taken out of context. This collection, comprised of one hundred of Boudreaux's best letters, provides intelligent, witty rejoinders to questions like these:
- Are taxes "really just prices"? (New York Times)
- Does the Tea Party suffer from a "fatuous infatuation" with the Constitution? (Washington Post)
- Is it "obvious" that "if there are fewer guns, there are fewer shootings and fewer funerals" (New Orleans Times-Picayune)
- Has "slowing population growth" proven to be "critical to long-term economic growth"? (Wall Street Journal)
Without swearing allegiance to any party or ideology, Boudreaux takes aim at pundits and politicos on the left, right, and everywhere between. He tackles issues ranging from "lookism" in the office and the futility of border walls to naive faith in alternative energy and the all-too-common tendency to trust a fallible and ever-expanding government.
Half-truths and Hypocrites won't change the deeply held convictions of readers. But it will entertain them, enlighten them, and sharpen their eye for shaky facts, faulty reasoning, and intellectual dishonesty--all of which are threats to a free, prosperous country.
About the author
Donald J. Boudreaux served as chairman of the department of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, from 2001 to 2009. He runs a blog, www.CafeHayek.com, with Russ Roberts and has lectured in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe. He is the author of Globalization (2008), and his writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily, Regulation, Reason, Ideas on Liberty, the Washington Times, the Journal of Commerce, the Cato Journal, and several scholarly journals.
Before chairing the economics department at George Mason, Boudreaux was president of the Foundation for Economic Education; associate professor of legal studies and Economics at Clemson University, and assistant professor of economics at George Mason University.
