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.

The Fight for Memorial Day

You might think this article comes a little late since it’s being published after Memorial Day. But now that Memorial Day has come and gone, it’s worth thinking about what it represents and why the debate about Memorial Day is so crucial. “Debate,” you might say. “What debate?” Yes, there is a debate. On one … Continue reading “The Fight for Memorial Day”

Is Peggy Noonan Turning Antiwar?

All my life, I’ve had distinctly minority positions on almost every issue. This started in high school. Whether the issue was Barry Goldwater (I found him intriguing, and he seemed far less corrupt than Lyndon Johnson), the rights of homosexuals (I was opposed to cops cracking down on them), or long hair in school (I … Continue reading “Is Peggy Noonan Turning Antiwar?”

John Yoo’s Dilemma

John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, faces a dilemma. You might recall that he was one of the most controversial lawyers in the Bush administration’s early years. Yoo was the deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. … Continue reading “John Yoo’s Dilemma”

A Liberal Politician Libertarians Can Appreciate

Author’s note: I gave this talk at the Peace Feast in Seaside, Calif., on March 29. This week the Monterey County Weekly ran an article in which it "outed" me as an antiwar professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. I’m not complaining: everything in that article was accurate, except for the part about my not … Continue reading “A Liberal Politician Libertarians Can Appreciate”

Jeremiah Wright: True and False

I stayed home Tuesday morning to watch the much-hyped Barack Obama speech on race and Jeremiah Wright. I was glad I did. I’ll forgive him his 35-minute, Bill Clinton-style delay before speaking because this speech was obviously one of the most important of his campaign. I had wondered how Obama would both speak to white … Continue reading “Jeremiah Wright: True and False”

Support Our Troops – or Judge Them?

KING HENRY V [disguised as a fellow soldier] I dare say you love him not so ill, to wish him here alone, howsoever you speak this to feel other men’s minds: methinks I could not die any where so contented as in the king’s company; his cause being just and his quarrel honourable. WILLIAMS That’s … Continue reading “Support Our Troops – or Judge Them?”

End the Cuban Embargo

Celebrate Good Times Whenever a bloodthirsty dictator resigns or, even better, dies, I pause to celebrate. I would have celebrated at Hitler’s death had I been alive then. Ditto Stalin. And I did celebrate when Mao died. I look forward to Fidel Castro’s death. After all the murders he has committed, he deserves it. End … Continue reading “End the Cuban Embargo”

The Information Problem: Pull Out of Iraq

On February 5, I gave a luncheon talk on the Iraq war at the World Affairs Council in San Francisco. About 60 people attended. I spoke after fellow Antiwar.com columnist Ivan Eland. Ivan laid out a plan for partitioning Iraq or at least having a very weak central government with relatively strong regional governments representing … Continue reading “The Information Problem: Pull Out of Iraq”

Two Days with Charles Peña

Regular readers of Antiwar.com probably often wonder who we columnists are in flesh and blood. Many of you like some/many/all of the articles we write, but you probably still wonder what we would be like as speakers. To put it bluntly, would you want to spend some of your speaker budget on this or that … Continue reading “Two Days with Charles Peña”

The Fatal Conceit in Foreign Policy

Question: Which Pakistani leader should the U.S. government support? You wouldn’t know it from watching most of the candidates for president, but this is a trick question. Why is it a trick question? Because it’s like asking, "When did you stop beating your wife?" If you try to answer when you stopped, you implicitly admit … Continue reading “The Fatal Conceit in Foreign Policy”