What We're Reading: February 16, 2018

Here’s a quick round-up of some of the links shared by Mercatus Center scholars this week:

• Adam Thierer says that Steven Pinker is our “greatest living prophet of progress,” and just started reading his new book, Enlightenment Now: The Case For Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
  • Thierer also just finished Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy by Tim Harford, and calls it a “wonderful exploration of the ‘everyday miracles that surround us.’”
• Daniel Griswold shared "At Least Congress Isn’t at Fisticuffs," a Wall Street Journal op-ed that reminds us that February 15^th was the 220^th anniversary of a physical fight in the House of Representatives. Of note, the fight was started when one Representative spit tobacco juice on one Roger Griswold of Connecticut (any relationship to Mercatus Center scholars named ‘Griswold’ uncertain).
  • Griswold also passed along a post by Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institute noting that trade volume in the United States reached a record high in December.
• Brian Knight retweeted a Cato Institute policy analysis on potential investor harm that may result from restricting private securities offerings.
• Matthew Mitchell shared a post discussing Angus Deaton’s thoughts on rent seeking from the Stigler Center at the University of Chicago in addition to a Wall Street Journal piece on why ‘the Enlightenment is working.’ Mitchell said the latter “should be the first thing assigned in every social science class.”
• Tyler Cowen highlighted a Norwegian airport’s plan to move 900 meters in order to open up new waterfront land for redevelopment, as well as some “speculative, very speculative” thoughts from the Times of Israel on accusations of ‘spy lizards.’
  • Earlier in the week, Cowen shared a Politico cover article asking “Can Washington Be Automated.”
• In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, Veronique de Rugy shared “14 Ways an Economist Says I Love You.”