Wayne A. Leighton & Edward J. López

Madmen, Intellectuals, & Academic Scribblers

The Economic Engine of Political Change

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Past Events

February 24, 2015 , Center for Free Enterprise at Florida Southern College
Politics, Law, and Economics Lecture Series
Public Lecture, “Bottom-Up Politics: Being Agents of Beneficial Change”
Edward J. López
February 23, 2015 , Department of Economics, Florida Atlantic University
Undergraduate Seminar Series
Public Lecture, “Fashion Copyright? A New Defense of Design Copyists”
Edward J. López
February 07, 2015 , School of Business, College of Charleston
Institute for Humane Studies Weekend Exploring Governments, Markets, and Liberty
Public Lecture, “The Economics and Politics of Copyright”
Edward J. López
February 07, 2015 , School of Business, College of Charleston
Institute for Humane Studies Weekend Exploring Governments, Markets, and Liberty
Public Lecture, “Bottom-Up Politics: Being Agents of Beneficial Change”
Edward J. López
November 21, 2014 , Atlanta, GA
J. W. Marriott
Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings
Edward J. López
November 19, 2014 , Wake Forest University School of Business, Winston-Salem, NC
BB&T Center for the Study of Capitalism
Public Lecture, “Fashion Copyright? A New Defense of Design Copying”
Edward J. López
October 28, 2014 , Easton, MA
Stone Hill College Department of Economics
Public Lecture, “Bottom Up Politics: Being Agents of Beneficial Change”
Edward J. López
October 27, 2014 , Providence, RI
Providence College Department of Economics
Public Lecture, “Bottom Up Politics: Being Agents of Beneficial Change”
Edward J. López
October 25, 2014 , Boston, Mass.
Students for Liberty
Public Lecture, Bottom Up Politics: Being Agents of Beneficial Change
Edward J. López
October 17, 2014 , Birmingham, AL
Samford University Department of Economics
Socratic Discussion on Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers
Edward J. López
October 16, 2014 , Birmingham, AL
Samford University Department of Economics
Public Lecture, “Bottom Up Politics: Being Agents of Beneficial Change”
Edward J. López
October 15, 2014 , Troy, AL
Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy, Troy University
Public Lecture, “Bottom Up Politics: Being Agents of Beneficial Change”
Edward J. López
October 07, 2014 , University of Tennessee - Chattannooga
Probasco Chair of Free Enterprise
Commenter on Remarks by Nobel Laureate Thomas Sargent
Edward J. López
September 12, 2014 , Lubbock, TX
The Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University
Research Presentation: “Ideas and Interests: Explaining Political Change”
Edward J. López
August 31, 2014 , - September 06, 2014, Hong Kong
Mont Pelerin Society
2014 General Meetings
Edward J. López
From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.189, ch.7)

The most successful entrepreneurs know what they do well, they know the market and the opportunities within it, and they choose those activities that create the most value. This is true in economic as well as political markets.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.178, ch.7)

[W]hen the right elements come together at the right time and place and overwhelm the status quo, it is because special people make it happen. We call them political entrepreneurs.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.176. ch.7)

While we started this book with Danny Biasone saving basketball, we end it with Norman Borlaug saving a billion lives. These stories are not that different. Both faced vested interests, which were reinforced by popular beliefs that things should be a certain way—that is, until a better idea came along.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.174, ch.6)

Because there was a general belief that homeownership was a good thing, politicians found the public with open arms.... Everybody was winning—except Alfred Marshall, whose supply and demand curves were difficult to see through the haze of excitement at the time, and except Friedrich Hayek, whose competition as a discovery procedure was befuddled... In short, once politicians started getting credit for homeownership rates, the housing market was doomed.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.166, ch.6)

Everyone responded rationally to the incentives before them. In short, the rules that guided homeownership changed over time, which in turn changed the incentives of these actors. And bad things happened.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.153, ch.6)

They understood the economics. The ideas had already won in ... the regulatory agency itself. All that remained to be overcome were some vested interests and a handful of madmen in authority.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.146, ch.6)

If the idea for auctions of spectrum use rights had been part of the public debate since at least 1959, why didn’t the relevant institutions change sooner? What interests stood in the way?

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.121, ch.5)

When an academic scribbler comes up with a new idea, it has to resonate well with widely shared beliefs, which in turn must overcome the vested interests at the table. Many forces come together to explain political change, even though it may seem like coincidence of time and place.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.120, ch.5)

It’s the rules of the political game that deserve our focus, not politicians’ personalities or party affiliations.

From the Pages of Madmen, Intellectuals, and Academic Scribblers (p.119, ch.5)

In short, ideas are a type of higher-order capital in society. Like a society that is poor in capital and therefore produces little consumer value, a society that is poor in ideas and institutions will have bad incentives and therefore few of the desirable outcomes that people want.

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