We have lived in Providence, RI for almost four years. I still am not accustomed to the driving habits of Rhode Islanders. There are the ones I might have expected moving up here from Georgia: the honk when the light turns green but I don’t move fast enough, the infrequent use of turn signals when […]
Pro civil society, pro individualism, pro market process, pro rule of law, pro limited government, pro peace, pro skepticism of power, pro spontaneous order, pro toleration, and pro liberty. These are the 10 fundamental principles of a free and prosperous society that will be explored in Learn Liberty’s new On Demand program, “Liberty 101”. Led […]
The following blog post by Abigail Hall appeared on the Independent Institute’s blog on September 3rd, 2015. Below is an excerpt. Some people look at the conditions in Venezuela and point to oil prices as the source of many of its problems. The Venezuelan government, led by President Nicolás Maduro, blames opposition leaders for the […]
This post by Sarah Skwire originally appeared on the Foundation for Economic Education on October 14th, 2015. Below is an excerpt. The disappearance of full nudity from Playboy magazine is, in other words, a perfect example of Schumpeter’s concept of creative destruction. Schumpeter wrote that the “essential fact about capitalism” is creative destruction — the […]
The health care debate has been long on hysterics and short on useful analysis. Incendiary and counterproductive rhetoric about socialism, Nazis, and death panels from some corners notwithstanding, critics of socialized medicine raise an important question with uncomfortable answers: in the absence of profits, losses, and prices, how will decisions about the production and allocation […]
Without economic freedom, we cannot exercise our other freedoms. The freedom to speak is meaningless if the government prevents us from traveling from our homes or paying for a phone call. The freedom to write is meaningless if the government prevents us from selling newspapers. The freedom to worship is meaningless if the government forces […]
It’s October, which means it’s one of the best months of the year for drinking beer. Whether it’s the crisp, clean taste of an Oktoberfest or the soft, spicy kick of a pumpkin ale, the seasonal brews available this month bring us some great variety after a summer of drinking our favorites. In the three […]
This excellent post by Bryan Caplan, professor of economics at George Mason University, was originally featured at OpenBorders in January of 2013. Below is an excerpt. I changed my mind about proper immigration policy in my senior year of high school. The impetus, as usual for me, was not first-hand experience, but abstract argument. After […]
I got a powerful reminder a few months ago of a lesson I learned in grad school: numbers don’t speak for themselves. We must interpret them alertly if we are to learn from them.The numbers I came across are these: [Medicare] spends roughly $3 on administration for each $100 of medical services it buys for […]
At tonight’s presidential primary debate, the topic of income inequality is almost guaranteed to come up. The widening gap between the rich and the poor is shaping up to be one of the defining themes of this election cycle. A recent, high-profile documentary called “Inequality for All” makes the case that this is a foremost […]
Earlier this year, I was making travel arrangements for a trip to Charleston. I booked my flight and hotel, and was about to book a rental car when I thought “wait a second. Charleston has Uber, doesn’t it?” It does, and I took UberX—the service that allows anyone who meets Uber’s requirements to drive for […]
Can Bitcoin help alleviate poverty? In developed countries with easy access to credit and banking, Bitcoin is still used mostly by criminals and early adopters–but in developing countries where credit and banking are difficult, if not impossible to access, Bitcoin helps workers not just to store their money, but also to cheaply and effectively send […]
For nearly all of human history, most people were very, very poor. But something happened after 1800. Average wages began to rise. For example, in the past 200 years, the average wage in the United States has gone from $3.00 per day to over $120.00 per day—and that’s adjusted for inflation. Why the sudden change? […]