My research is grounded on four fundamental premises: (1) the decentralization of knowledge in a complex society, such as ours, is important in the explanation of both economic and social phenomena; (2) human action should be understood in a contextual way -- both the individual and social context is needed to to make sense of what people do and how they relate to one another; (3) these phenomena are, wherever possible, best viewed as processes in time; and (4) economic and social policies usually have important unintended consequences. My central interests are in the interfaces between philosophy and economics, law and economics, and ethics and economics. I believe that philosophy is a more important sister discipline to economics than mathematics. Accordingly, the methods applied in my work reflect this.
Articles
Paternalist Slopes (with Glen Whitman), NYU Journal of Law and Liberty (2007)
A growing literature in law and public policy harnesses research in behavioral economics to justify...
The Problem of Moral Dirigisme: A New Argument Against Moralistic Legislation, NYU Journal of Law & Liberty (2005)
This Article applies a theory of rational choice to moral decisionmaking. In this theory, agents...
The Camel's Nose is in the Tent: Rules, Theories and Slippery Slopes (with Glen Whitman), UCLA Law Review (2003)
The authors provide a general theory for understanding and evaluating slippery slope arguments (SSAs) and...
Which Kind of Legal Order? Logical Coherence and Praxeological Coherence, Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines (1999)
This article addresses the classic question: How can the common law ensure relative certainty of...
The Coming Slavery: The Determinism of Herbert Spencer, Review of Austrian Economics (1999)
Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) believed that Victorian Britain was moving toward a society of total regimentation...
Books
Economics of Time and Ignorance: 1996 Intro Survey (1996)
This is a review of the developments in Austrian-subjectivist economics during the period 1985-1996 from...
Time, Uncertainty and Disequilibrium: Exploration of Austrian Themes (1979)
This is a collection of articles and comments on those articles deriving from a conference...
Contributions to Books
Real Time and Relative Indeterminacy in Economic Theory, Time in Contemporary Intellectual Thought (2000)
This article develops the implications of a dynamic conception of time for the idea of...
Popular Press
Trust Us, Forbes magazine (2007)
A critique of the new paternalist idea that experts can know what individuals really want.
Should Policies Nudge People? An Exchange with Richard Thaler on Libertarian Paternalism, Wall Street Journal On-Line "Econoblog" (2007)
Exchange -- perhaps a debate -- with Richard Thaler (Univ of Chicago) on his, and...
Unpublished Papers
Little Brother is Watching You: New Paternalism on the Slippery Slopes (with Douglas Glen Whitman) (2008)
The "new paternalism" claims that careful policy interventions can help people make better decisions in...
Justice versus Benevolence: A Modern Humean View (2007)
This paper is an attempt to "update" and extend David Hume's moral psychology by...
Other
A Course in Ethics and Economics (2008)
The syllabus of a course "The Economics of Welfare, Justice and Ethics" I am giiving...
A Course in Classical Liberal Thought (2007)
This is the syllabus of a course in classical liberal thought that I have been...