David R. Henderson

David R. Henderson is a research fellow with the Hoover Institution and an emeritus professor of economics in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School. He is author of The Joy of Freedom: An Economist’s Odyssey and co-author, with Charles L. Hooper, of Making Great Decisions in Business and Life(Chicago Park Press). His latest book is The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics (Liberty Fund, 2008). He has appeared on The O’Reilly Factor, the Jim Lehrer Newshour, CNN, MSNBC, RT, Fox Business Channel, and C-SPAN. He has had over 100 articles published in Fortune, the Wall Street Journal, Red Herring, Barron’s, National Review, Reason, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Hill, and the Christian Science Monitor. He has also testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Armed Services Committee, and the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. He blogs at Econlog.econlib.org and I Blog To Differ.

War-Fighting and the Loss of Liberty

The following first appeared in the June Liberty Forum at Law and Liberty. Professor David Tucker argues in his Liberty Forum essay that a grand strategy, at least one that is dreamed of by experts, “is not a possibility for the United States,” and that if it were, we Americans would have fewer liberties. I … Continue reading “War-Fighting and the Loss of Liberty”

Rex Tillerson at Hoover

On Wednesday morning last week, I, as a research fellow with the Hoover Institution, got to attend a speech by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. It was followed by a Q&A session with former Secretary of State and my Hoover colleague Condoleezza Rice. Unfortunately, questions from the audience were not allowed. The talk was about … Continue reading “Rex Tillerson at Hoover”

Robert Gates, Pro and Con

"I worry that there’s a temptation to overstate the terrorist threat. It is not an existential threat." "Demonizing Islam and demonizing Muslims is self-defeating. It will make the problem worse." These are two of the statements made by former Secretary of Defense and former director of the Central Intelligence Agency Robert Gates at the Naval … Continue reading “Robert Gates, Pro and Con”

Richard Epstein’s Faulty Case for Intervention

My Hoover Institution colleague Richard Epstein recently argued ("Rand Paul’s Fatal Pacifism," Defining Ideas, September 2) for an interventionist foreign policy. Although his attack is on Senator Rand Paul, it is much broader than that. He claims that libertarians are “clueless on the ISIS threat” and that “libertarians often have the illusion of certainty.” I’m … Continue reading “Richard Epstein’s Faulty Case for Intervention”

An Economist’s Case for a Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy

The Naval War College, based in Newport, Rhode Island, runs a special 11-month course for foreign Navy officers. On February 3, the Naval War College held a special morning session at the Hoover Institution, where I am a research fellow. I was invited to speak. The best invites, in my experience, are those for which … Continue reading “An Economist’s Case for a Non-Interventionist Foreign Policy”

Rand’s Stand

Last week, something exciting happened in U.S. politics. It was exciting in itself, and even if nothing else had come of it, it still would have been exciting. But what made it even more exciting is what followed – the reaction to this event that various people at various parts of the political spectrum had. … Continue reading “Rand’s Stand”

The Left’s Antiwar Movement in Monterey: Down but Not Out

There’s no doubt that antiwar activism among the left has declined substantially since Barack Obama became president. That has led many people to claim that the apparent antiwar views of many on the left were not so much antiwar as anti-Bush. I’m sure that there’s something to that, but there’s also a more nuanced explanation. … Continue reading “The Left’s Antiwar Movement in Monterey: Down but Not Out”