 | Doing the Right Things: The Private Sector Response to Hurricane Katrina as a Case Study in the Bourgeois Virtues
August 27, 2009 Working Papers Steven Horwitz |
| Major American companies from Marriott to McDonald’s to Wal-Mart undertook major and minor acts of bourgeois virtue and contributed in a significant way to the recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Doing the right thing” was central to their response. What constituted “doing the right thing,” how the very nature of large capitalist enterprises made doing “right” possible, and how doing “right” improved conditions after Katrina is explored in this working paper.
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| The Role of Ideal Types in Austrian Business Cycle Theory
June 29, 2009 Working Papers Gene Callahan,
Steven Horwitz |
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| The Microeconomic Foundations of Macroeconomic Disorder: An Austrian Perspective on the Great Recession of 2008
June 22, 2009 Working Papers Steven Horwitz |
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| Best Responders: Post-Katrina Innovation and Improvisations by Wal-Mart and the U.S. Coast Guard
April 15, 2009 Journal Articles Steven Horwitz |
| The unprecedented impacts of Hurricane Katrina provide an interesting study in how organizations innovate and improvise in the face of the unexpected. Most of the attention paid to organizational performance during the disaster has focused, understandably, on the systematic failures of FEMA. But were there any successes? Yes, in fact. Two of the stand-out responders were Wal-Mart and the United States Coast Guard.
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 | Wal-Mart to the Rescue: Private Enterprise's Response to Hurricane Katrina
March 20, 2009 Journal Articles Steven Horwitz |
| This paper describes aspects of Wal-Mart’s emergency response system and details their actions during the storm.
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 | Local Knowledge
July 29, 2008 Research Papers/Studies Bruce Yandle,
Curtis Melvin,
Daniel Rothschild,
Daniel Sutter,
Frederic Sautet,
Peter Boettke,
Steven Horwitz,
Timothy Roemer,
Veronique de Rugy |
| This issue of Local Knowledge focuses on the role of entrepreneurs in rebuilding the Gulf Coast. In this issue you can read research articles that explain what entrepreneurship is; that discuss how entrepreneurs and their businesses play a critical role in the response to and recovery after disasters; and that detail where and when entrepreneurs have played key parts in rebuilding.
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 | Making Hurricane Response More Effective: Lessons from the Private Sector and the Coast Guard During Katrina
March 19, 2008 Mercatus Policy Series Steven Horwitz |
| In this Policy Comment, Professor Horwitz compares the relative effectiveness of Wal-Mart, the US Coast Guard, and FEMA in the hours and days after Katrina made landfall and pulls out policy implications about how to better engage the public and private sectors after future disasters.
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| The Limits of Economic Expertise: Prophets, Engineers, and the State in the History of Development Economics
April 18, 2005 Journal Articles Peter Boettke,
Steven Horwitz |
| What role is there for government in promoting the economic well-being of citizens within its national boundaries? If one assumes that political authority derives its legitimacy in part from the satisfaction it affords its subjects, then it follows that a "good" government will adopt policies that will enhance the economic well-being of its citizens. What exactly those policies are has been one of the main subjects of controversy in economics since its founding. Some have contended that the role of government is to be at best a referee, whereas other economists have argued the government must serve as an active player in the economic game. This paper identifies two theoretical tensions that exist in this debate.
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| The Limits of Economic Expertise: Prophets, Engineers, and the State in the History of Development Economics - Working Paper
June 21, 2004 Working Papers Peter Boettke,
Steven Horwitz |
| What role is there for government in promoting the economic well-being of citizens within its national boundaries? If one assumes that political authority derives its legitimacy in part from the satisfaction it affords its subjects, then it follows that a "good" government will adopt policies that will enhance the economic well-being of its citizens. What exactly those policies are has been one of the main subjects of controversy in economics since its founding. Some have contended that the role of government is to be at best a referee, whereas other economists have argued the government must serve as an active player in the economic game. This working paper identifies two theoretical tensions that exist in this debate. |
