Alice Louise Kassens is John S. Shannon Professor of Economics at Roanoke College, a Senior Analyst with the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research, Director of the Center for Economic Freedom, and Research Fellow with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ Institute for Economic Equity. She is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Economic Teaching. Kassens earned her BA in economics and history from the College of William and Mary and her Ph.D. in economics from North Carolina State University.Joshua C. Hall is Milan Puskar Dean and Professor of Economics at the John Chambers College of Business & Economics at West Virginia University. He was the 2019-2020 Benedum Distinguished Scholar in Behavioral and Social Sciences and a 2015-2016 WVU Foundation Outstanding Teaching Award Recipient. He is editor of the Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Ohio University and his Ph.D. from West Virginia University in 2007. Before returning to WVU, he was the Elbert H. Neese, Jr. Professor of Economics at Beloit College.

“This is an insightful and fair-minded book for those with an interest in the consequences, both intended and unintended, of regulating free markets. … This book is a valuable addition to libraries and a potential supplementary (or primary) text to an applied economics or health policy class. I plan to use many of its essays in classes I teach on the subject.” (Craig J. Richardson, The Independent Review, Vol. 28 (4), 2024)

• Introduction.- Part I Land Use.- Chapter 1. The Case for Dynamic Cities.- Chapter 2. What’s Wrong with American Land Use: Market Failures, Bad Policies, or Politics?.- Part II. Education.- Chapter 3. Funding Students Instead of Systems: The Case for School Choice,”.- Chapter 4. The Trouble with Outsourcing School Management.- Part III. Trade Openness.- Chapter 5. Free Trade as a Key to Economic Development.- Chapter 6. The Case for Regulated Trade.- Part IV. Labor Markets.- Chapter 7 “Job Creation, Job Destruction, and Economic Performance,” Dynamism.- Chapter 8. “Regulations and Outcomes for American Workers: A Look at the Past 75 years.- Part V. Health Insurance.- Chapter 9. “Bad Nudges in Health Care”.- Chapter 10.  “Challenges to Market-Based Healthcare for Consumers, Insurers and Society”.- Part VI. Technology.- Chapter 11. “On Coping with Technological Disruption”.- Chapter 12. “Complexity and Obligation: Rethinking Law and Technology’s Pacing Problem".- Part VII. Recreational Alcohol and Drugs.- Chapter 13. “Legalized for Innovation”.- Chapter 14.  “Individuals Demand for Bad Health: The Case of Alcohol and Illicit Drugs.