Public Choice Economics And The Salem Witchcraft Hysteria
Tags: Franklin G. Mixon

A recent Google search of the phrase "the Salem Witch Trials" turned up more than 1.75 million results. As the results suggest, the witchcraft episode in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, remains a "go to" topic for scholarly debate. The crux of the episode, that 20 individuals were wrongly executed on the accusation of being witches/practicing witchcraft, has since become part of the American subconscious, particularly in the political realm. Beyond simple "witch hunt" fascination, the Salem witchcraft phenomenon is worthy of further intellectual inquiry for any number of reasons. Public Choice Economics and the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria provides an economics perspective on the witchcraft episode, and adds to the growing body of work analyzing prominent historical events using the tools of economics.