Previous Reading Groups

The theme for the Armentrout Scholars Fall 2023 was “Humanomics: Economic Freedom and the Not-So-Dismal Science” Participants will read and discuss both classic and contemporary works by economists and other social scientists including Adam Smith, Dierdre McCloskey, and Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith – and many others. We’ll explore questions such as: Are economic actors really just the automatons described by modern economic theory? What important facets of the world do we miss by making this simplifying assumption? Are markets just arenas where exchange takes place? Or do free markets actually promote the development of moral behavior more broadly?
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The title for the Bridwell Scholars Advanced Reading Group was “Globalism.” The readings for the semester will explore the implications of the global economy, including, but not limited to, international trade. Books to be covered most closely are International Trade: What Everyone Needs to Know by Anne Kreuger and Open: The Story of Human Progress by Johan Norberg. Other authors whose work will be read include Jagdish Bhagwati, Bryan Caplan, Paul Collier, and Tyler Cowen.
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The theme for the Armentrout Scholars Spring 2023 program was “Cities, Local Government, & Local Governance”. Participants will read and discuss classic works by scholars such as Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom, Edward Glaeser, Jane Jacobs, Gordon Tullock, Anthony Downs, and Richard Florida. We will explore questions such as: Why are cities important? Why are some cities shrinking? Why are some cities growing rapidly? Is urban sprawl good or bad? What should local government do? What can the private, voluntary sector do that government normally does? Are many, small local governments better than one large one?
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The title for the Bridwell Advanced Reading Group was “The Depths of Maximizing Behavior.” The readings for the semester will explore the outer boundaries of plausibility in the basic assumption in economics that individuals maximize, with topics ranging from economics and public policy to law and psychology. Books to be covered in the semester are The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson, Legal Systems Very Different from Ours by David Friedman, The Age of the Infovore by Tyler Cowen, and The Economic Naturalist by Robert Frank, among other readings.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout/Bridwell Fall 2022 program was “The Role of Government in a Free Society.” Participants will read and discuss classic works by scholars such as Adam Smith, John Locke, J.S. Mill, and Karl Marx and more contemporary works by Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Robert Nozick, and John Rawls. We’ll explore questions such as: What is the legitimate role of government? For what purposes are we willing to impose taxes and imprison people if they don’t pay them? We’ll discuss what a variety of economists, political philosophers, and public policy experts contribute to this topic.
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The title for the Advanced Reading Group was “Topics in the History of Political Economy.” Topics will range from classical economists like Adam Smith and Karl Marx to contemporary questions like “economic imperialism” and the nature of prediction in social science. Texts will vary from week to week, but we will make use of The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner and titles from The Essential Scholars series published by the Fraser Institute.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout/Bridwell Spring 2022 program was “Capitalism, Socialism, and Human Flourishing.” Students will explore the historical debate about the extent to which economies should be planned by governments or left to individuals. They read and discussed works by a diverse group of scholars, including Adam Smith, Karl Marx, F.A. Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Joseph Stiglitz, that examine theoretical arguments for and against capitalism and socialism, as well as the outcomes of these systems in practice. We’ll explore questions such as: What do “socialism” and “capitalism” mean? What is the best way for a society to organize its economic system? How do societies ensure that scarce resources are channeled to highly valued uses? What can we learn from the past experiences of other countries with differing systems of government?
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The title for the Advanced Reading Group was “Capitalism and Comparative Economics.” Topics discussed were regulation, the size of government, the quality of the legal system, property rights, sound money, the freedom to trade, democracy, state capacity, and legal origins. Readings will vary widely, but a representative text is The Clash of Economic Ideas by Lawrence White.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout/Bridwell Fall 2021 program was “Freedom and Human Flourishing: Poverty, Prosperity & Quality of Life around the World.” Participants read and discussed work by a diverse group of scholars, including Daron Acemoglu, George Ayittey, William Easterly, Deirdre McCloskey, James Otteson, and Jeffrey Sachs, that examine the role of personal freedom, markets, and culture in promoting human flourishing. We’ll explore questions such as: Why are some nations prosperous while other remain impoverished? How should we measure socio-economic progress? What role does foreign aid play in helping the poor? How has the quality of life changed over time around the world? How do government policies and markets affect our well-being?
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The title for the Advanced Reading Group was “Adventures and Misadventures in Science and Data Analytics.” Books which were read are The Hot Hand by Ben Cohen, The Data Detective by Tim Harford, Science Fictions by Stuart Ritchie, and The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout/Bridwell Spring 2021 program was “Economics, Evolution, and the Environment.” Our relationship with the natural environment affects and is affected by every aspect of economic activity. Students read and discussed works on this issue from a variety of perspectives from authors such as Matthew Ridley and Nobel economist William Nordhaus. We will explore questions such as: How are biological and social evolution related? How can economics inform ecology, and vice versa? What does our evolutionary history imply for social policy? What is the best way to protect the natural environment? How can we address the problem of climate change?
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The title for the Advanced Reading Group will be “Civil Liberties.” Preference will be given to students who have previously participated in a Bridwell Institute/O'Neil Center reading group, but applications are open to all undergraduates. Among the topics that will be covered are the history of civil liberties in the United States, migration and the possibility of open borders, the economic origins of religious liberty, racial inequality in the United States, and free speech on campus, by authors such as Glenn Loury, Greg Lukianoff, Radley Balko, and Bryan Caplan.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Fall 2020 program was “Exploring Inequality”. Participants read and discussed works by scholars such as Milton Friedman, Joseph Stiglitz, Tyler Cowen, and Paul Krugman. We will explore questions such as: What do people mean by the term “inequality”? How do you measure it? Is it changing substantially over time? What can (and should) public policy do to address it? What other solutions are there?
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The program for the Advanced Reading Group was “History and Political Economy of Food.” Students read Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History by Rachel Laudan, An Economist Gets Lunch: New Rules for Everyday Foodies by Tyler Cowen, and Agricultural & Food Controversies: What Everyone Needs to Know by F. Bailey Norwood, Pascal Oltenacu, Michelle Calvo-Lorenzo, and Sarah Lancaster.|
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Spring 2020 program was “Paternalism: Do We Want a Nanny State?”. Participants read and discussed works by scholars such as John Stuart Mill, Nobel economist Gary Becker, Richard Thaler, and Cass Sunstein. They examined what paternalism is and if the government has a legitimate role to interfere in people's lives, given that economic theory assumes that individuals are rational and will make the best judgement of what is good for them. They explore if people truly are rational and should governments try to “nudge” people into making better decisions simply by changing the presentation of choices without compulsion or coercion.
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The program for the Advanced Reading Group was “Ecological Irrationality, Public and Private”. Students read Bryan Caplan's The Myth of the Rational Voter, followed by the Ryan Murphy's new publication, Markets against Modernity: Ecological Irrationality, Public and Private, along with several supplementary readings. Murphy's work draws parallels between errors in public opinion about public policy and irrationality expressed in the market, with many novel implications.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Fall 2019 program was “The Past, Present, and Future of Work". Participants read and discussed works by scholars such as Milton Friedman, Claudia Goldin, Price Fishback, and David Card. They examined what the future holds for immigration, labor unions, occupational licensing, and minimum wage in labor markets.
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The program for the Advanced Reading Group was “How to Be a YIMBY: Market Urbanism and Regional Economics.” which covered issues surrounding the re-invigoration of major cities, and the new challenges faced by cities experiencing rapid rises in housing costs in recent decades through readings such as Triumph of the City by Ed Glaeser, with other readings considering issues such as the relationship between housing and the global financial crisis, and how best to interpret the legacy of the famed activist, Jane Jacobs.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Spring 2019 program was “The Economics of Knowledge.” Participants read and discussed works by scholars such as F.A. Hayek, Joseph Stiglitz, Bryan Caplan, and Cass Sunstein. They examined the importance of appropriate institutions for facilitating knowledge discovery and transmission, and explored a variety of applied topics.


The program for the Advanced Reading Group was “History of Economic Thought,” which covered classical economics, the birth of modern economics, the challenge of Keynes, and more recent developments using secondary sources, such as The Worldly Philosophers by Robert Heilbroner, and The Clash of Economic Ideas by Lawrence White.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Fall 2018 program was “ The Role of Government in a Free Society.” Participants read and discussed works by scholars such as Adam Smith, J.S. Mill, John Locke, and Karl Marx, and more contemporary works by Milton Friedman, Friedrich Hayek, Robert Nozick, and John Rawls, that examined what a variety of economists, political philosophers, and public policy experts contribute to this topic.
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The program for the Advanced Reading Group was “History of Libertarianism in the United States,” which covered Brian Doherty's lengthy book on the topic. The semester was punctuated by a series of brief readings covering events since the publication of this book in 2007, including recent challenges to libertarianism in 2018.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Spring 2018 program was “ Freedom and Human Flourishing: Poverty, Prosperity & Quality of Life around the World.” Participants read and discussed works by scholars such as George Ayittey, Daron Acemoglu, Bill Easterly, and Deirdre McCloskey that examined the role of personal freedom, markets, and culture in promoting human flourishing.
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The program for the Advanced Reading Group was “Numeracy,” which covered various perspectives on the best practical and scientific ways of thinking about data, but without any prerequisite coursework in advanced mathematics or statistics. Among the topics covered were Bayesian inference, behavioral economics, prediction markets, and the “Replication Crisis.” Readings included works by Philip Tetlock, Nate Silver, Daniel Kahneman, and Andrew Gelman.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Fall 2017 program was “Economics and Social Issues: Markets and the Marginalized.” Participants read and discussed work by scholars such as Claudia Goldin, Walter Williams, and Thomas Leonard that examined how disadvantaged groups fare in wealthy societies.
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The program for the Advanced Reading Group was “A Brief History of Civilization,” which covered the competing and complementary explanations of the emergence of the modern world. Among these explanations are human capital, social norms, democracy, and economic freedom. The purpose was to give students a varied and subtle review of an important, disciplinary topic. Readings included works by scholars such as Deirdre McCloskey, Douglass North, Francis Fukuyama, and Daron Acemoglu.
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The theme for the McLane/Armentrout Spring 2017 program was “Cities, Local Government, and Local Governance” Participants will read and discuss classic and contemporary works by economists, political scientists, and urban scholars – such as Jane Jacobs, Elinor Ostrom, Edward Glaeser, Gordon Tullock, Anthony Downs, and Richard Florida.
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The program for the Advanced Reading Group will be, “A Brief History of Civilization,” which will cover the competing and complementary explanations of the emergence of the modern world. Among these explanations are human capital, social norms, democracy, and economic freedom. The purpose is to give students a varied and subtle review of an important, disciplinary topic. Readings will include works by scholars such as Deirdre McCloskey, Douglass North, Francis Fukuyama, and Daron Acemoglu.
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In Fall 2016, two groups of students read and discussed classic and contemporary works by economists and philosophers such as G.A. Cohen and F.A. Hayek that explore the moral dimensions of market exchange. We’ll explore questions such as: Which is more just: socialism or capitalism? By what moral standard should we evaluate markets? What moral norms do markets need to function effectively? Does capitalism make us selfish? Do markets corrupt our character or destroy communities? What sorts of markets should be allowed? Should we be allowed to sell our organs, or rent our bodies?
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In addition, for the first time, there was an Advanced Reading Group, directed by Ryan Murphy, open to alumni from previous reading groups. The readings were on the topic of political psychology and included readings by Bryan Caplan, Jonathan Haidt, F. A. Hayek, Matthew Ridley among others.
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The theme for the Spring 2016 program was “Markets & Economic Development: Does Capitalism Help the Poor?” Participants can expect to encounter the classic works of P.T. Bauer, Gunnar Myrdal, Douglass North, and Friedrich Hayek along with more recent work by Jeffrey Sachs, William Easterly, Jared Diamond, Hernando de Soto, and others. Students read classic debates about the origins of poverty from geographic, sociological and institutional views. We will then look at the history of development and economic growth examining what has worked and what hasn't in different countries. Has capitalism contributed to the recent global reduction in absolute poverty around the world? Are there downsides?

In Fall 2015, students read selections by Paul Krugman, Fredrich Bastiat, Jeffrey Miron, James Q. Wilson, Steve Horwitz, Robert Higgs, Chris Coyne, Nelson Mandela, William Hutt, Jane Jacobs, Ed Glaeser, Charles Murray, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm, Ben Powell, Russ Sobel, Thomas Piketty, Deirdre McCloskey, Michael Clemens, and George Borjas, among others.

In Spring 2015, students read selections by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, Ludwig von Mises, Oskar Lange, Friedrich Hayek, Peter Boettek, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schumpeter, Hernando De Soto, James Buchanan, William Baumol, and Edmund Phelps, among others.

In Spring 2014, students read Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson and David Boaz's Libertarianism: A Primer.