How to read
How these readings work
Each reading takes a question people argue about and works through it the way an economist would: what changed, what the evidence shows, what the strongest objections are, and which parts come down to values.
The framework
Every reading starts from the same picture of a market economy.
This framework comes from economist Peter Boettke of George Mason University. He has set it out in many places, including The Socialist Calculation Debate: Theory, History, and Contemporary Relevance (with Rosolino A. Candela and Tegan L. Truitt, Cambridge University Press, 2024) and a 2025 EconTalk conversation about that book: “Property incentivizes us. Prices guide us. Profits lure us to new changes and losses discipline us.”
That picture is a starting point, not a verdict. The readings ask where it fits the facts and where it doesn't.
Evidence and values, kept apart
Evidence
Questions about what is true or what would happen. These can be checked against data, and the readings show the data.
Values
Questions about what is fair or what matters most. Evidence can inform them but can't settle them. The readings name the values in play rather than choosing for you.
Fair challenges
Each reading includes the strongest objections to its own analysis, from more than one direction, with a reply. Open each challenge and decide for yourself whether the reply holds up.
Sources and dates
Figures come from government agencies, central banks, and peer-reviewed research wherever possible, and each reading lists its sources at the end with links. Every reading shows the date its figures are current to. Prices change; the method doesn't.
Arguments are different from figures. Think tanks and podcasts make strong cases, but most of them argue from a point of view. When a reading draws on one, it names who is speaking and tries to pair it with a source from another part of the spectrum. A libertarian institute's case for free trade sits next to a center-left one's, and an EconTalk episode next to one from Brookings. You should be able to tell whose argument you're reading.
Printing
Every reading has a Print button. The print version opens every challenge and reply and leaves out the menus. To keep a copy, choose "Save as PDF" in the print window.