Home Page of Dr.Morris Coats

Opinion/Editorial Essays by Morris Coats

A. First Principles: Self Interest and Property Rights

1. Christmas, Time for Charity

2. Two Problems with the Russian Economy

3. The End of a Century, the End of a Millennium

B. Markets: How Supply and Demand Interact

1. Legalizing Drugs?

2. The Oil Boom of the '90s

3. Falling Prices for Shrimp and Petroleum

4. Our Laws Make Hurricanes Doubly Disastrous

5. Why the Minimum Wage Should Not Be Increased

6. The Minimum Wage and School Dropouts

7. Trade Agreement

8. Local Solutions for Local Education Problems

9. Prophets of Profits

10. Celebrating Diversity, Benefiting from Diversity

11. Iowa's Real Political Barometer

12. Trading in Kidneys and the Kindness of Strangers

C. Competition and the Competition of Ideas

1. Personal and Business Savings

2. Competition Between Public and Private Education in Louisiana

3. Isn't It Ironic?

4. 'Giving the Devil His Due'--Clinton Bows to Competition of Ideas

5. Advances in Technology and Competition

6. Is the FDA Protecting Pharmaceuticals or Patients?

7. The True Meaning of Monopoly

D. Antitrust, Price Fixing and Regulation

1. The Price of Milk

2. Chinese Crawfish

3. Bill Gates, Tom Smith and Monopolies

4. Gasoline, Liquor and Price Fixing

5. Judge Rules Software Giant Microsoft Has a Monopoly

6. High-tech Gizmos Gain Ground on Gates

7. Mergers and Takeovers

8. The Exxon-Mobil Merger

9. The Regulatory Burden on Small Business

10. Electric Competition is Coming, but How Soon?

11. Beware of OPEC Promises

12. Vitamins, Price Fixing, and Doctors

13. The Stink of Sewer Rate Hikes

E. Labor

1. An Honest Day's Pay

2. The Impact of Fifty Years of Offshore Oil on the Local Labor Market

F. Spillover Effects

1. Gill Nets Don't Overfish, People Overfish

2. Do The Rest of the Community a Favor for Christmas, Get a Flu Shot

G. Public Choice

1. A Single, Land-Based Casino

2. Special Elections for Local Taxes

3. The Other Side of Campaign Finance Reform

4. Beware, the Legislature is in Session

5. Hope for the Louisiana Legislature

6. Credit and Blame for the National Economy

7. Local Solutions for Local Education Problems

8. Iowa's Real Political Barometer

9. Tying the Hands of Government

H. Taxation

1. The Case Against the Value-Added Tax (VAT)

2. The Case for a National Sales Tax

3. National Tax Reform, 1997 Style

4. The Three Certainties in Life

5. An Alternative to the Homestead Exemption

6. Tax Day Cometh

7. Keeping Kids from Smoking

8. Another Tax Day, and an Accident

9. For Richer or Poorer: Taxes Take Toll on Earning Effort

10. New Speak: Humpty Dumpty on the Budget Surplus

I. Public Spending

1. Vouchers and Dixie Cups

2. Let's Watch Florida's School Voucher Program

3. School Boycotts, Monopoly and Vouchers

4. The Social Security Mess

5. National Health Insurance

6. Two Problems with Medicare

7. Let's Call a Time-out for Louisiana's TIME Program

8. The Breaux-Thomas Plan for Saving Medicare

J. Law and Economics

1. Pain, Punishment, the President and Impeachment

2. Morial's Misguided Lawsuit against Gun Makers

3. Permitting Criminals to Go Undeterred

4. Deterring Mass Slayings

K. Macroeconomics

1. The Stock Market and the Nation's Economy

2. Forbes' Fouled Fettering of the Fed

Links to Other Writers' Op-Ed and Other Columns Available on the Web.