Paul Heyne

When Paul Heyne died of cancer in 2000, The Independent Review published this wonderful obituary. This fall and spring, I'm teaching principles of microeconomics, and because my university is a Christian university, we are required to teach an ethics component. I will be using this new book by Heyne, along with Robert Frank and Ben Bernanke's textbook for the main theory. I look forward to delving into the essays, though, in the Heyne collection. Heyne received his Ph.D. in Ethics and Society from the University of Chicago, and I think was ABD in economics there as well, but may be wrong on that. Here's a quote from Heyne which I think captures some of his views well:

“A well-coordinated and smoothly functioning society gives individuals more opportunity to choose; it does not guarantee that they will choose well. The economic way of thinking, especially in a democracy, is an important preliminary. But it is no more than that.”