Peter T. Leeson

Was Mises right

Abstract This paper argues that Misess methodological position has been misunderstood by both friends and foes alike. On the one hand, Misess critics wrongly characterize his position as rejecting empirical work. On the other hand, his defenders wrongly interpret his stance as rejecting empirical analyses on the grounds that they contradict apriorism and push economics towards historicism. We show that Misess methodological position occupies a unique place that is at once both wholly aprioristic and radically empirical.

Does the market self-correct? Asymmetrical adjustment and the structure of economic error

Abstract While both errors of overoptimism and errors of overpessimism are possible in the face of imperfect information, the presence of option value from deferring a decision to exchange causes trader errors to be overpessimistically biased. This is problematic because, unlike errors of overoptimism, errors of overpessimism are not ‘automatically’ revealed to the agents who make them. Furthermore, owing to the ‘bad news principle of irreversible investment,’ these errors are likely to persist. We show how entrepreneurial activity corrects such errors and prevents their persistence, creating a tendency towards market efficiency despite the presence of imperfect information.

Balkanization and assimilation: Examining the effects of state-created homogeneity

Abstract This paper investigates the effects of state-created homogeneity on the ability of socially distant individuals to trade. I show that where the state is absent, socially distant agents adopt the customs, practices and institutions of outsiders they desire to interact with. By creating a degree of homogeneity, agents signal their credibility to each other. These signals, in turn, enable inter-group exchange. Formal institutions provided by government can create noise in these signals. This noise incapacitates the information mechanism employed by heterogeneous agents to enable trade.

The Economic Role of the State

The Economic Role of the State presents a comprehensive collection of seminal works from David Hume through to Barry Weingast. Including an original introduction, the volume covers the main theories and justifications for and against state intervention as they have developed over two centuries. It also incorporates an institutional approach to the role of the state in enforcing ‘the rules of the game’ of the economy as well as examining specific issues including market failure, rent-seeking and regulation. Economists and political scientists alike will find this to be the ideal guide to the classic and modern arguments surrounding the state’s role in the economy.

Une analyse économique du piratage informatique

Dans cette introduction breve a l’article «xa0Une analyse economique du piratage informatiquexa0», nous voulons souligner que les a priori conceptuels de Peter Leeson et Christopher Coyne les empechent de penser l’organisation pirate dans son ensemble, et concentrent l’attention sur les travers et couts associes a la piraterie sans en prendre en compte ni les implicites ideologiques ni les benefices. Dans leur article, Leeson et Coyne enfourchent la thematique courue des incitations a etre pirate...