Bart Wilson
@bartwilson.bsky.social
Professor of Economics and Law, Chapman University | Author of Meaningful Economics, The Property Species, and Humanomics https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0197758150
Economists love the term “prosocial.” It sounds generous, but notice we never say “self-sacrificing.” The word smuggles in an optimism that helping others can be good for them without ever really being bad for you.
October 14, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Economists love the term “prosocial.” It sounds generous, but notice we never say “self-sacrificing.” The word smuggles in an optimism that helping others can be good for them without ever really being bad for you.
"Wilson wants economists to reject narrow cause-and-effect arguments because they obscure human purpose and meaning behind action."
www.independent.org/tir/2025-fal...
www.independent.org/tir/2025-fal...
Book Review: Meaningful Economics: Making the Science of Prosperity More Human, Bart J. Wilson
When economists analyze human conduct exclusively in terms of scarcity, they ignore the complexity of the human mind. In the twentieth century, economists
www.independent.org
September 30, 2025 at 7:09 PM
"Wilson wants economists to reject narrow cause-and-effect arguments because they obscure human purpose and meaning behind action."
www.independent.org/tir/2025-fal...
www.independent.org/tir/2025-fal...
I’ve written a short essay on the philosophy of economic science, titled “Constrained Optimization or Observation? On What Economists Take as Primary.” This is just a beginning, and I’m keen to hear counterpoints as I continue down this path.
September 10, 2025 at 12:08 AM
I’ve written a short essay on the philosophy of economic science, titled “Constrained Optimization or Observation? On What Economists Take as Primary.” This is just a beginning, and I’m keen to hear counterpoints as I continue down this path.
Monkeys, markets, and human nature — I join The Great Antidote with Juliette Sellgren to talk about how deep the roots of economics really are.
loom.ly/I6Gdk3Q
loom.ly/I6Gdk3Q
What Monkeys Teach Us About Economics with Bart Wilson - The Great Antidote
What if modern economics has overlooked what truly makes us human?In this episode, Bart Wilson joins us to explore humanomics—an approach to economics that reintroduces meaning, culture, and moral jud...
loom.ly
May 17, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Monkeys, markets, and human nature — I join The Great Antidote with Juliette Sellgren to talk about how deep the roots of economics really are.
loom.ly/I6Gdk3Q
loom.ly/I6Gdk3Q
I would add that the calling of the university isn’t just about witnessing truth, but also discovering what’s good and beautiful about the human condition. These three distinct values compose a trinity that is necessary to be faithful and courageous to the calling.
crookedtimber.org/2025/03/22/o...
crookedtimber.org/2025/03/22/o...
On the Predicament of the Richly Endowed University and Liberal Society — Crooked Timber
crookedtimber.org
March 23, 2025 at 9:25 PM
I would add that the calling of the university isn’t just about witnessing truth, but also discovering what’s good and beautiful about the human condition. These three distinct values compose a trinity that is necessary to be faithful and courageous to the calling.
crookedtimber.org/2025/03/22/o...
crookedtimber.org/2025/03/22/o...
Pretty much sums up Homo sapiens
March 20, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Pretty much sums up Homo sapiens
Late-stage capitalism: when the stock exchange becomes theatre
March 18, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Late-stage capitalism: when the stock exchange becomes theatre
“I am convinced that the method of teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation is incomparably the best; since not content with serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew;
March 13, 2025 at 8:46 PM
“I am convinced that the method of teaching which approaches most nearly to the method of investigation is incomparably the best; since not content with serving up a few barren and lifeless truths, it leads to the stock on which they grew;
In "Meaningful Economics", I argue that economics is as much about purposes and human values as it is about cost-benefit analysis, reframing economic science as a question of "why?" and not merely "how?" or "how much?".
Find out more: oxford.ly/41IGv52
Find out more: oxford.ly/41IGv52
March 8, 2025 at 8:32 PM
In "Meaningful Economics", I argue that economics is as much about purposes and human values as it is about cost-benefit analysis, reframing economic science as a question of "why?" and not merely "how?" or "how much?".
Find out more: oxford.ly/41IGv52
Find out more: oxford.ly/41IGv52
Are we just rats in a cage, chasing immediate rewards? What if economics recognized us—not just as reactive creatures, but as imaginative, purposeful beings?
oxford.ly/4h5T8M2
oxford.ly/4h5T8M2
Making economics more human
As the “official doctrine of neoclassical economics, enshrined in all respectable textbooks,” the esteemed game theorist Ken Binmore says, revealed preference theory “succeeds in accommodating the inf...
oxford.ly
March 2, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Are we just rats in a cage, chasing immediate rewards? What if economics recognized us—not just as reactive creatures, but as imaginative, purposeful beings?
oxford.ly/4h5T8M2
oxford.ly/4h5T8M2
Why did Homo sapiens become rich? Economists generally leave it to historians, and to a relatively small handful of them at that, to ponder such an important question. Maybe they need us non-historians to mix things up for them.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
On explaining why the (human) world is rich
The wealth of the modern world is a natural historical marvel. Explaining it has traditionally been the purview of economic historians, as exemplified…
www.sciencedirect.com
February 15, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Why did Homo sapiens become rich? Economists generally leave it to historians, and to a relatively small handful of them at that, to ponder such an important question. Maybe they need us non-historians to mix things up for them.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
OUP is offering 30% discount for "Meaningful Economics" if you buy it directly from them using the code AUFLY30.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com
January 29, 2025 at 6:57 PM
OUP is offering 30% discount for "Meaningful Economics" if you buy it directly from them using the code AUFLY30.
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Or, on why economists might should want to reflect on why we think the way we do
digressionsimpressions.substack.com/p/on-whether...
On whether Economists should read Marx, and Adam S. HT @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social. With shout outs to Vernon L. Smith and a number of others.
On whether Economists should read Marx, and Adam S. HT @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social. With shout outs to Vernon L. Smith and a number of others.
On whether Economists should read Marx, and Adam S.
When I was a PhD student, I got invited to a Summer program at GMU and over the years got to know James (‘Jim’) Buchanan (and, lest we forget, Gordon Tullock) on a first name basis.
digressionsimpressions.substack.com
January 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Or, on why economists might should want to reflect on why we think the way we do
If there is something that almost all economists agree on, it’s that economics is about cost-benefit analysis, not moral human conduct. But why? Why must we separate economics and ethics such that never the twain shall meet?
blog.oup.com/2024/12/mean...
blog.oup.com/2024/12/mean...
Meaningful economics
Human beings mean. We just do. Human beings contemplate the importance or significance of everything, be it a person or a place, an action or a consequence, a possession or an idea, a relationship or ...
blog.oup.com
December 20, 2024 at 3:27 PM
If there is something that almost all economists agree on, it’s that economics is about cost-benefit analysis, not moral human conduct. But why? Why must we separate economics and ethics such that never the twain shall meet?
blog.oup.com/2024/12/mean...
blog.oup.com/2024/12/mean...
Reposted by Bart Wilson
On this episode of #BoundByOath we ask what is property? No, really, what actually 𝑖𝑠 it? Where does it come from? Is it “theft”? And what do John Locke, Henry George, condos & spears have to do w/ it? We explore this w/
@bartwilson.bsky.social & @mattzwolinski.bsky.social!
ij.org/podcasts/bou...
@bartwilson.bsky.social & @mattzwolinski.bsky.social!
ij.org/podcasts/bou...
This is Mine | Season 3, Ep. 6 - Institute for Justice
On this episode, we take a break from case law and go way back to the beginning to examine the origins and justifications of private […]
ij.org
April 26, 2024 at 9:10 PM
On this episode of #BoundByOath we ask what is property? No, really, what actually 𝑖𝑠 it? Where does it come from? Is it “theft”? And what do John Locke, Henry George, condos & spears have to do w/ it? We explore this w/
@bartwilson.bsky.social & @mattzwolinski.bsky.social!
ij.org/podcasts/bou...
@bartwilson.bsky.social & @mattzwolinski.bsky.social!
ij.org/podcasts/bou...