A few weeks ago, park staff asked Bina Ramesh, a 22-year-old woman celebrating her birthday at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, to change her attire because they deemed it inappropriate—something that Ramesh interpreted as an obvious ploy to discriminate against women. The story does make the park look pretty unsympathetic. It seems […]
This piece was originally published at the L.A. Times. Foreign trade took a beating at both major party conventions, with speakers blaming free-trade agreements for all but wiping out U.S. manufacturing and eliminating millions of middle-class jobs. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have promised to renegotiate or abandon trade agreements with key U.S. trading […]
The English poet John Donne once wrote that “no man is an island.” It often feels quite the opposite what with the ever increasing technological advances made and the preoccupied-with-our-phone age we find ourselves in. Yet, the same technology that sometimes feels divisive is actually one of the best ways to stay connected. (Think Pokémon Go). The […]
Many voters, especially younger voters, are “feeling the Bern.” But what exactly are they feeling? Generally, these individuals believe that some people (financially successful individuals) owe other people (low-income individuals)—and that some people, like those of the working class or youth demographic, are entitled to receive benefits at the expense of others. Is This an […]
A new bill has been proposed recently in the District of Columbia which would entitle employees to 12 weeks of paid leave when they have a child. Diana Furchgott-Roth, a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, responded with a thoughtful commentary urging people to remember who would pay the costs of this policy: DC businesses […]
As I was walking around the waterfront in Vancouver, I noticed some beautiful yachts. I took a picture with the largest, dreaming about how nice it would be to have one of my own. After my walk, I returned to my hotel room, scrolled through the television channels, and stumbled across the show Secret Lives […]
The Washington Post recently blared the headline: “Majority of Millennials Now Reject Capitalism, Poll Shows.” I suspect, perhaps unfairly, that this is a matter of some pleasure for the Post’s editorial board. But if you actually read the article, a different picture emerges. In fact, 42 percent of the millennials polled say they support capitalism. […]
Fans of increased government intervention in the economy often like to justify their position by pointing to the success of the moon landing. “If we can put a man on the moon,” the refrain goes, “we can surely rebuild our crumbling infrastructure (or provide everyone with healthcare, etc.).” There’s no question the moon landing was […]
How does the free market help space exploration? Doesn’t the government fund NASA? Thanks to the free market, that isn’t the whole picture. Assistant Professor Gus Hurwitz explains how you can explore space without government funding.
As the election season heats up, candidates from both sides of the political spectrum seem to agree on one thing: Free trade hurts Americans. There is also a fierce debate about whether—or to what degree—free trade increases income inequality in the country. As commentators continue to disparage free trade (often on products like smartphones, computers, […]
The presidential campaign has brought up several economic issues, and international trade has been front and center of the debate. So, as I look at my Donald Trump tie that was made in China and my Donald Trump shirts that were made in Bangladesh and Indonesia, I want to clarify some basic economic concepts dealing […]
A recent piece in The New York Times Magazine explores the world of Minecraft and how children interact with the game. Minecraft is a game which allows players to build complex creations in a virtual world, either on their own or in shared spaces with other players. The gameplay combines a number of different elements: […]
“If we look at the history of the world, a huge fraction of the improvements in standard of living has come because private businesses have created new products, have given people jobs, have generated profits that raise people out of poverty and allow them to live fruitful and productive lives with reasonable standards of living.” […]
Can the FCC slow down your internet connection to make the internet equal for everyone? Could this potentially slow down your online gaming or video streaming?
How To Make A Learn Liberty Video Featuring Star Wars #BTS! Check out this step by step on how to make a creative, educational video!
What are your ideas about liberty? The Liberty 101 On Demand Program talks about what being pro-liberty means and why it’s important to our society. Just about everyone of every political persuasion expresses some ideas that are pro-liberty. We should be free in markets, we should be free in society. Liberty is a principle that […]
Liberty: few people say they dislike it, so what makes libertarians’ emphasis on it different? Learn Liberty and Students for Liberty have joined together to explore the ideas of freedom through the lenses of philosophy, law, and economics.
Why is the beer you drink so expensive? Beer is one of the most highly regulated industries, across the country. Ultimately, these regulations are like putting lead boots on craft breweries and entrepreneurs. This video describes the level of taxation and regulation applied to brewing and selling beer at all levels of government. Can you imagine […]
What if we passed a law that made it illegal for Apple to sell the iPhone directly to you? That’s exactly what’s happened with craft beer. Certain people have built their business model around these regulations and certain people have incurred a lot of costs as a result of these regulations. So if I’m a […]
There are more than 2,000 breweries in the United States, and craft beer has been continually increasing in popularity. Is the craft beer scene today the best it’s ever been? The short answer: no. In 1870 there were about 4,000 breweries in the U.S. Today there are only about 2,800, which means that Ulysses S. […]
The sharing economy connects people with services like Uber, AirBnB, and Feastly. Despite these new ways to connect, many regulators would like to stop it in its tracks.
How is a competition to find dinosaur bones like lobbying the government? Back in the 19th century, Edward Cope and Othniel Marsh competed to find dinosaur bones. What started as a healthy competition that drove them to better themselves eventually drove the two scientists to actively work against each other, even to the point of […]
Should we be allowed to sell our kidneys? What about sex? How about our blood?! Should there be limits on what we can and can’t buy? How can we decide what can be for sale on a market – are there things that we shouldn’t allow to be purchased? In this video, Professor Peter Jaworski […]
In this video, Professor Peter Jaworski tackles the issue of paying NCAA players. In an $875 million industry where coaches’ salaries are measured in the millions, is there a good justification for compensating student athletes only in scholarships? Jaworski examines the NCAA’s arguments, and presents his own. What do you think–should college athletes be paid?