Learn Liberty Blog
We tackle big questions about what makes society free or prosperous and how we can improve the world we live in.
Blog Posts in Focus
Free trade lets us turn corn into cars.
January 25, 2018 | Bryan Caplan
From the American point of view, technology and trade are the same. From the human point of view, trade is better.
Legends of Liberty: Lysander Spooner
November 18, 2021 | Learn Liberty Team
The organic industry is a case study in rent-seeking.
February 5, 2018 | Henry I. Miller
If businesses get government subsidies to make their products cheaper, or “capture” regulation to hurt their competitors, that’s rent seeking.
Blog Posts
High Prices Convey Information, not Criminality
November 6, 2015 |
Last month’s record flooding in South Carolina brought renewed crackdowns on price gouging. But higher prices simply convey information – in this case that consumers should conserve and producers should produce. In this way, prices allow the shortages that occur in natural disasters to be alleviated. In the new Learn Liberty video below, Towson University […]
Food for Thought: Protectionism
November 6, 2015 |
Some countries heavily subsidize companies within their own borders. Does this justify equally large subsidies in America? How else can companies compete internationally if they do not receive government funds, but their rivals do? Let us know what you think in the comments!
Libertarian Trivia
November 5, 2015 |
Did you know that Milton Friedman won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1976?
Vote or Die: 2015 Edition
November 4, 2015 |
Yesterday was Election Day and many exit polls reported historically low voter turnout. This follows a trend of low-voter turnout in recent elections. In 2014, for instance, voter turnout was the lowest since World War Two. In the video below, Georgetown economist Jason Brennan explores whether citizens should be forced to vote in order to […]
Opportunity Alert!: The Mercatus Center Needs an Intern
November 4, 2015 |
The Mercatus Center at George Mason University seeks a dynamic and motivated individual to join the Academic and Student Programs team as a paid intern. This is a great opportunity for someone interested in learning basic non-profit operations and management. We have a flexible, professional, open office environment that encourages innovation and entrepreneurship and provides […]
Richard Epstein: The Continuing Relevance of Hayek's "The Constitution of Liberty"
November 4, 2015 |
Richard A. Epstein is the inaugural Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law and Director of the Classical Liberal Institute at the New York University School of Law. He is also the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law Emeritus and senior lecturer at the University of Chicago. He served as editor of the Journal […]
Staff Profile: Cory Eucalitto
November 3, 2015 |
Learn Liberty: First, when did you join the Learn Liberty team and what is your role? Cory Eucalitto: Spring 2014. I was originally hired to produce Learn Liberty videos, but now work on our Learn Liberty programs team. There, I help create online courses and programs, and am thinking about ways to re-shape the Learn […]
Quote of the Day
November 3, 2015 |
This quote is taken from Lysander Spooner’s, “An Essay on the Trial by Jury,” published in 1852. Jury nullification, according to Spooner, was a final bulwark against encroachments from the state on individual liberty. Spooner argued in this essay that the role of the jury is not only to rule on the facts of the […]
A Five Minute Crash Course on the Greek Crisis
November 3, 2015 |
The economic and financial turmoil in Greece has been in and out of headlines frequently over the last few months. The Greeks claim austerity measures have only made things worse, while the EU claims Greece continues to fail the austerity measure put in place to receive future bailouts. In this video, we explain what has […]
Greece Should Default
November 2, 2015 |
Newly reelected Greek Prime Minister Alex Tsipras expects that by early 2017 Greece will be able to access bond markets, from which it has been virtually cut off since it lost investor confidence in 2010. If it is unable to meet this timeline, it will be forced to rely on further bailouts or go bankrupt. […]
Featured On Demand Program of the Week: The Immigration Debate
November 2, 2015 |
With presidential contenders like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders making a fuss about foreign laborers coming to the country and depressing wages or murdering our women and children immigration reform has once again moved to the front lines of presidential politics. Have you ever wanted to cut through the demagoguery and fear-mongering and get plain […]
‘Loonie’ Canadians Elect Spendthrift Regime Despite Success with Cutting Spending
November 2, 2015 |
Last week, Canada elected a new Liberal Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who has vowed to massively boost public spending and run several years of deficits, arguing that the “infrastructure deficit” is bigger than the fiscal deficit. He claims that such stimulus spending will spur economic growth. But in the video below, economist Stephen Davies looks […]
The Demise of Unsupervised Play and the Challenge of Sexual Communication
November 2, 2015 | Steven Horwitz
One of the key elements of a free society is that people avoid potential conflicts peacefully, using consent not coercion. One way to do this is through market exchange, but another way is through cooperative agreement, such as we see in small groups who have to solve problems (think about organizing a group project in […]
The Scariest Thing This Halloween: Government
October 31, 2015 |
According to a recent Chapman University survey, it’s not ghosts and goblins that Americans are most afraid of this Halloween; it’s the government, the corruption of which ranks as the number one fear in a list of 88 options. (Whooping cough and zombies rank as the bottom two in case you’re curious.) In the video […]
Antony Davies in the Washington Post: It's Time to Privatize Metro
October 30, 2015 |
This opinion piece by professor Antony Davies appeared in the Washington Post on October 16th. Below is an excerpt. Metro takes its bizarre victim-blaming a step further, saying that in order to right these “safety wrongs” and bring ridership numbers back to those seen in the golden days, it will be forced to increase fares. […]
On Creative Destruction and Self-Driving Cars
October 30, 2015 |
The capabilities of self-driving cars are growing rapidly, and some sources predict they will become the primary means of transportation by 2040. However, “Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people—truckers, cabbies, delivery people—drive for a living in the USA”, and these drivers are likely to lose their jobs if they could be replaced by self-driving […]
Doing Bad by Doing Good
October 29, 2015 |
Should you save the spider in the toilet? That’s the philosophical thought experiment explored in the new Learn Liberty video below. Despite the good intentions of those who want to save the spider, there is no guarantee that they will result in it being saved. In fact, good intentions may make the spider worse off. […]
Republican Debate: More of the Same?
October 29, 2015 | Cassie Whalen
Last night’s Republican debate was two hours of 10 candidates doing their best to distinguish themselves from the many people hoping to win the 2016 presidential election. While there were some generally agreed-upon winners (Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz) and losers (Jeb Bush, and for some the CNBC moderators), the debate itself was underwhelming. Was […]
Win the Game of Thrones by Not Playing
October 29, 2015 |
Game of Thrones won Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmy Awards recently, and its fandom has reached a feverish pitch. Though its medieval society filled with dragons, giants, and magic may seem far removed from our present day, the principles underlying the nature of power remain the same in both. In the video below, economist […]
Every Flaw in Consumers Is Worse in Voters
October 29, 2015 | Michael Munger
I have been making a mistake for most of my life. See, I’m an economist, and one of the things that attracted me to economics is the notion of the “ideal economy.” Of course, there are valid objections to the use of markets. There are people who cheat and commit fraud, and there are problems […]
Foundation for Economic Education: The Ghosts of Spying Past
October 29, 2015 |
This post originally appeared on FEE.org on July 8th, 2015. Below is an excerpt. In the early days, the Internet was thoroughly insecure; its governmental and academic users trusted each other, and the occasional student prank couldn’t cause much damage. As it started becoming available to everyone in the early ‘90s, people saw the huge […]
Art Carden: Illegal Immigrants Don't Lower Our Wages Or Take Our Jobs
October 28, 2015 |
Below is an excerpt of a post that appeared at Forbes.com on August 28th, 2015. According to an April 2015 symposium on the effects of illegal immigrants in the Southern Economic Journal, illegal immigrants actually raise wages for documented/native workers. Meanwhile, rules preventing illegal immigrants from getting driver’s licenses raise our car insurance premiums and […]
New York Times’ Solution to Fiscal Problems: Eat the Rich
October 28, 2015 |
The New York Times came out with an article last weekend claiming how much good raising taxes on the country’s wealthiest could do: [W]hat could a tax-the-rich plan actually achieve? As it turns out, quite a lot… the government could raise large amounts of revenue exclusively from this small group, while still allowing them to […]
Staff Profile: Sloane Shearman
October 27, 2015 |
Learn Liberty: First, when did you join the Learn Liberty team and what is your role? Sloane Shearman: I came to work at Learn Liberty shortly after I graduated, in September 2013. As part of the Digital Strategy team, I work closely with Learn Liberty producers throughout the video creation process to help us reach […]