It is fashionable in some circles to stigmatize economic growth as ‘materialism,’ recklessly using up the planet’s allegedly scarce resources in a rat race to acquire ever more material goods.

Just as the quantity theory of money factors in the velocity as well as the supply of money, we might apply the same principle to the housing market. The velocity of housing transactions is notoriously slow.

Capitalism was not invented. It developed out of the ways in which people deal with each other, and is one of the most benign things that people have done

Critics of capitalism sometimes suggest that advertising is wasteful, diverting resources into promoting goods that might otherwise be used to lower the price.

In some circles profit is almost a dirty word. It conjures up fat capitalists sucking up the livelihood of poorer people in order to stuff their pockets and make themselves fabulously wealthy.

Everywhere the shout is for greater equality. Unequal societies, we are told by some, are less happy. More equal societies, we are told, are more stable and contented.

The modern idea seems to be that risk is a bad thing to be avoided, whereas the reverse is true.  Some people do indeed feel comfortable in a safe and stable environment, but this is not where progress and advances are made. 

The idea sounds superficially attractive. No more national wars or territorial grabs.

The development of the modern industrialized world could be interpreted as a series of jumps, rather than a continuous line of development.

First, the bad news. The world is running out of scarce resources and none will be left for our children. The seas and rivers are polluted, and the air we breathe is toxic.

When we were at St Andrews, a group of us used to play word games in the Union Bar. One was Tom Swifties, then called Tom Swiftlies.

Rent control is back under consideration in many cities, even though it is one of the most damaging economic policies ever devised.