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Featured Learn Liberty Blog Posts
Economics
Why We Need a Flat Tax
Making tax returns easier — without Turbo Tax — is just reason “The system of discriminatory taxation universally accepted under the misleading name of progressive taxation of income and inheritance is not a mode of taxation. It is rather a mode of disguised expropriation of the successful capitalists and entrepreneurs”. – Ludwig von Mises If the free market has been so successful at massively reducing poverty worldwide, then why do people continue to complain about inequality? People often argue that the free market has enabled a small group of wealthy individuals to profit
Civil Liberties
Juneteenth: 3 Lessons in Activism
On June 19th, 1865, Texas became the last state in the nation to proclaim enslaved African Americans free. Exactly three years ago this past Monday,
Economics
High Time to Rethink High Schooling
Why Educational Vouchers Are Not Enough In 1955, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, Milton Friedman, introduced the idea of school vouchers
All Learn Liberty Blog Posts
Uncategorized
Featured On Demand Program of the Week: Feminism – A New Perspective
From gaining the rights to vote and to own property to contemporary issues like wage gaps and slut shaming, feminism has been a topic of debate for decades. Some argue that the best way to give women equal rights and opportunities is to enact government policies which mandate the equal treatment of women, or affirmative […]
Economics
Save the Date – Buchanan Speaker Series: Education, Inequality, and Incentives
Join the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics on Thursday December 10th from 4:30-6pm for the inaugural event in the Buchanan Speaker Series featuring Roland G. Fryor, the Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University and faculty director of the Education Innovation Laboratory. Fryor’s current research focuses on education reform, […]
Voting
Discussion Question: Democracy
Some decisions, such as the selection of a government representative, are made by democratic means. However, decisions like which religion to follow are left to each person to choose for herself. Which decisions should be made by a democracy, and which decisions should be made by the individual. When should society make the distinction between […]
Education
Free Books on Free Markets
Looking to learn more about Austrian economics, libertarianism, or classical liberal thought? The Mises Institute (named for famed Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, author of Human Action) offers a huge online library of books, journal articles, and other writings on a range of topics related to Austrian economics and classical liberalism. Here are just a […]
Uncategorized
Black Friday, Thanksgiving, and the Economy: The Economics of Black Friday Sales
As the holiday season begins, you might be getting a lot of emails about Black Friday sales. Over time, the store openings for many retailers on Black Friday has been getting earlier and earlier, even to the point of stores opening on Thanksgiving. Check out the chart below for opening hours over time for some […]
Uncategorized
What is the total number of federal laws on the books? Hint: Googling won’t help.
That’s because nobody has been able to count the total number of federal laws on the books. A post at the Library of Congress’s blog put it this way: At the reference desk, we are frequently asked to estimate the number of federal laws in force. However, trying to tally this number is nearly impossible. […]
Education
Free Speech and Central Funding
Controversies surrounding the funding of college publications with student fees illustrate some important difficulties when it comes to the funding and activities of the federal government. Wesleyan University’s student government cut funding for the campus newspaper in the wake of an op-ed critical of the Black Lives Matter movement. The University of California at San […]
Uncategorized
Do States Have the Power to Bar Syrian Refugees?
The following post by Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at George Mason University School of Law, appeared at the Volokh Conspiracy on November 25, 2015. Below is an excerpt. Do they have the legal authority to do so? Under current Supreme Court precedent, the answer is a clear “no,” though things might be different under the […]
Uncategorized
Don Boudreaux on a Good Economics 101 Course
This post originally appeared on Don Boudreaux’s blog Cafe Hayek on November 25th, 2015. Below is an excerpt: But a well-taught principles course – a course taught, for example, by the likes of Deirdre McCloskey, by my colleague Walter Williams, by Dwight Lee, or by the late Armen Alchian – is one that teaches, and […]
War on Drugs
What You Need to Know About Mandatory Minimums
Mandatory minimums are a chief culprit in the rise of the United States’ obscene prison population. Here’s what you need to know about them.
Uncategorized
Explaining the Paris Terrorist Attacks in 90 Seconds
The world is still reeling from the recent ISIS terrorist attack in Paris that left 130 dead and 352 injured. Many are left wondering, why did this happen? and what are the ramifications? In the video below, George Mason University professor Christopher Coyne attempts to answer these questions in 90 seconds. He argues that the […]
Uncategorized
Featured On Demand Program of the Week: Mythbusters
Did World War II really end the Great Depression? Does the minimum wage actually help low-income workers? Do violent video games cause violence? Modern society perpetuates many myths; in economics, history, and even personal behavior. Some sound plausible, and others are simply repeated so often that people accept them as true without really thinking. To […]
Education
Transformative Trans Talks
The third and final edition of Trans Talks, a conversation with transgender economist Dierdre McCloskey, was released this week. This video describes some of McCloskey’s challenges as a transgender economist and highlights her speech at the Students for Liberty conference. “When you have equal dignity,” says McCloskey, “you get equal inventiveness; you allow people to […]
Uncategorized
Discussion Question: Immigration
What might be reasons to restrict immigration to the United States? Can we justifiably refuse entry to immigrants on the fear that they will receive welfare but not work in return? Would that, then, justify kicking American citizens out of the country if they do not meet a certain standard? Give us your two cents […]
Uncategorized
Did You Know?
Did you know that selling milk for less than the government’s imposed price floor could land you in jail? Prison time isn’t the only drawback of minimum prices for milk. Prices are the miraculous mechanism by which complex market information about supply and demand are communicated throughout the economy. When government policies artificially raise or […]
Education
Free Speech Challenge on Campus
The issue of free speech has exploded on college campuses in recent weeks, with students and faculty at numerous schools nationwide calling for restrictions of free expression in the name of tolerance, and calling for conformity in the name of diversity. In the video below, Towson University professor Howard Baetjer tries to confront college students […]
Uncategorized
Value is Subjective: The Copernican Revolution in Economics
What makes something valuable? Today, we know that value is in the eye of the beholder—that is, value is subjective. But for many years, people subscribed to the theory that the value of goods came from the amount of work that went into creating them: the “labor theory of value”. Professor Steven Horwitz explains it […]
Education
Freedom of Speech on Campus: Help from FIRE
Freedom of speech on college campuses is getting a lot of attention lately. With the recent student protests at Mizzou, people are concerned about freedom of speech not only for students, but also for professors and even journalists on campus. While student protests are one way of effecting change on campus, did you know that […]
Uncategorized
Social Cooperation: Why Thieves Hate Free Markets
In this video Professor Aeon Skoble explains how market competition and spontaneous order result in the emergence of a civil order that discourages stealing and other harmful behaviors. This concept is often overlooked or ignored or just plainly misunderstood by critics of free markets. Can you think of other areas where competitive markets results in […]
Liberty
Quote of the Day: Mill's Harm Principle
In this bite sized quote, J.S. Mill perfectly encapsulates his Harm Principle put forth in his political treatise, “On Liberty.” The state, acting as an institution with the legal monopoly on the use of coercion, should only use force to prevent harm done to others. What would the world look like today if the government […]
Uncategorized
Steampunk Political Thought, Anyone?
In The God of the Machine, journalist Isabel Paterson (January 22, 1886, – January 10, 1961) offers an original theory of history based on the metaphor of the machine, with humanity as the dynamo. That’s right: one might venture to call this “steampunk political theory.” As one of the “big three” publications of feminist-individualist thought […]
War on Drugs
Featured On Demand Program of the Week: The War on Drugs Part 2
Can you believe that drugs in the US were initially banned partly because of fears of miscegenation (interracial relationships)? But that’s not the only reason. Other reasons included alarmist films like Reefer Madness (see program image!), fear of conspiracies, and the notion that government has a right to determine the productivity of its citizens. If […]
Uncategorized
Discussion Question of the Week: On Social Contracts
Does a ‘social contract’ between the people and their government truly exist? If so, what is contained in the social contract, and does it justify the size and scope of our current government?. If not, what is the best justification for government, and does it apply to our current government?