The Open Market Blog

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 02/24/2012

Michael Greve’s recently released, The Upside-Down Constitution, traces the evolution of federalism in of our Constitution. He persuasively documents the transition from competitive federalism…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 02/23/2012

Political campaigns are rarely useful in raising the level of public discourse. The current one is no exception. There is great concern over the “loss”…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 10/27/2011

Bill Niskanen was an individual who will be missed sorely in a world where intellectuals of integrity are a rare breed.

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 09/23/2011

Our Constitution created a pro-property rights, pro-contract rule of law -- a system promoting entrepreneurial growth. On this 224th Anniversary of the creation…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 09/22/2011

A recent Washington Post article by Lisa Miller discusses the separation of church and state in marriage. Miller concludes that the ways in which…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 08/04/2011

Conservatives and libertarians have long joked that these first words of the Constitution might well have ended with a period! But, laws are made and…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 04/27/2011

Over the last decade, waves of studies have claimed that individuals aren’t rational — that they often reject options that are in their best interest.

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 03/29/2011

When the cartoon strips realize the humor inherent in “green energy technology,” can victory be far away?…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 12/22/2010

The Washington Post‘s “Senate Panel Ban Seen as Double Standard” deals with the latest attempt to eliminate so-called “conflicts of interest” between appointees to…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 11/22/2010

Reading William Gibson’s recent novel, Zero History, I came across an interesting passage: There were cameras literally everywhere in London. … He remembered Bigend saying…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 11/05/2010

In our half-political, half-private world, there are a growing number of public-private partnerships.  Almost nothing in the current world can be done without implicit or…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 10/21/2010

Over at the Boards at their Best blog, James Kristie, editor of the journal Directors & Boards, recently proposed a rule requiring that…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 10/05/2010

Kenneth Feinberg, the individual dolling out the $20 billion BP Oil Spill “Settlement” (a No Pressure Voluntary thing), has been criticized for distributing funds too…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 06/29/2010

Mickey Edwards, former congressman from Oklahoma and guest lecturer at the Harvard School of Government, has written an interesting blog on the case for business…

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 05/18/2010

The idea that government can “perfect” an imperfect market (an artifact of economists’ “perfect competition” theory) has again become an item of faith among intellectuals.

• By: Fred L. Smith, Jr.
• 04/22/2010

Robert B. Zoellick, World Bank President, has attracted sovereign wealth funds to expand his organization’s ability to “assist” developing world economies  (World Bank gets…