Category:Poverty & Inequality
Legends of Liberty: Thomas Sowell
November 11, 2021 | Post
Last week, we wrote about Frederic Bastiat, the king of communicating economic and philosophical ideas in simple, direct (and often funny) ways. Of course, in the 19th century, Bastiat’s medium was the printed word. But if you had to find an heir to his throne in the social media era, Thomas Sowell would be a […]
Why is Latin America so corrupt?
April 28, 2021 | Video
Ahead of his panel on Corruption and Poverty in Latin America at LibertyCon Europe, Juan Carlos Hidalgo, former policy analyst at the Cato Institute talks about why Latin America has so many cases of corruption, the recent protests in Chile and other countries around the world.
Is It Unfair to Pay CEOs Billions? Q&A with Prof. Howie Baetjer
January 29, 2018 | Video
Is it fair that CEOs get paid millions—even billions—while there are so many people still in poverty? Well, it depends! Watch the second entry in our question and answer series with Prof. Howie Baetjer.
Economic Freedom by the Numbers
October 30, 2017 | Video
What’s the evidence that economic freedom is beneficial for society? Prof. Antony Davies shows charts of the free market’s effects on unemployment, inequality, poverty, and even child labor.
What most Americans have never heard about extreme poverty
September 13, 2017 | Post
Why did poverty decrease so much over the past 200 years, and especially over the past 30 years? Let’s look at one key example; then we’ll zoom out to the broader research.
An Alternative to Welfare
August 21, 2017 | Video
Today’s welfare system discourages aspiring for the American dream. What if we tried a universal basic income instead? Watch the full interview with Prof. Munger
The Myth of Equality in the 1950s
August 9, 2017 | Video
Why do people keep saying the ‘50s were more “equal” than today? Perhaps they forget how many people were in poverty — or what the major unions did to African-Americans.
Capitalism could save lives with the most boring innovation of all
August 8, 2017 | Post
A combination of drought, political instability and poor policies is threatening the lives of thousands. Fortunately, for some herders, insurance products are helping to make a desperate situation a little bit better.
The Unprecedented Equality of the 21st Century
August 7, 2017 | Video
The rich get richer, and the poor get … cell phones, cars, and nice TVs? Prof. Mike Munger says we’re actually more equal than ever. Click to watch the full interview.
Federalism is not unfair.
July 25, 2017 | Post
Should the federal government provide a universal basic income for the states?
Why I deserve what you created: word count welfare
June 16, 2017 | Post
I am furious. I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and learned that my friend Steve Horwitz had written almost 3,000 words in a single day in his new book chapter on inequality.
Minimum Wage Laws Don't Help the Poor — Opportunities Do.
May 29, 2017 | Post
If the problem is that the poor have too few options, it’s a bad “solution” to remove one of those options.
Income Inequality or Income Mobility: For What Should We Fight?
April 5, 2017 | Post
The rapid decline of poverty over the past forty years shows that there has never been more hope for rising incomes among the poor. We can help them best by promoting mobility through economic freedom.
Why libertarians should oppose the Universal Basic Income
March 24, 2017 | Post
Here’s my opening statement for my Students for Liberty debate with Will Wilkinson. Enjoy. Libertarians have a standard set of fundamental criticisms of the welfare state. Forced charity is unjust. Individuals have a moral right to decide if and when they want to help others. Forced charity is unnecessary. In a free market, voluntary donations […]
What should we do about luck?
March 17, 2017 | Post
What should we do about the fact that some people are able to earn more money than others? Should government redress the resulting disparities in income? The answer is often believed to hinge upon our conclusion about the role of luck in affecting income-earning abilities. Those on the political left emphasize factors beyond the individual’s […]
We are all living red-carpet lives now.
February 27, 2017 | Post
Last night, millions of movie buffs, entertainment fiends, and celebrity gawkers from across the globe tuned in for the Oscars. While a few of us aficionados waited with bated breath for the announcement of Best Live-Action Short (Timecode was robbed!), for many viewers the awards ceremony isn’t the main event: The red carpet is what […]
Why aid programs are harder to evaluate than dessert shops
February 22, 2017 | Post
Recently, at a Center for Global Development conference, attendees criticized a wide swath of development programs that, these experts say, provide no evidence they are achieving their objectives.
The many faces of means-testing
February 19, 2017 | Post
Isn’t a Universal Basic Income just another name for a negative income tax, such as Tax = -$10,000 + .3*Income? If so, isn’t a Universal Basic Income means-tested by definition?
Better market-oriented proposals that reduce income inequality
February 15, 2017 | Post
I was initially excited to see that progressive Dean Baker has written a piece on “Eight Market-Oriented Proposals That Reduce Income Inequality” for AEI. It begins promisingly by criticizing overly strict occupational licensing for high-skilled workers. But it then studiously avoids the really big wins. Namely: 1. Immigration. High-skilled immigration reduces conventionally measured inequality by […]
The Racist Origin of the Minimum Wage — Deirdre McCloskey
February 13, 2017 | Video
Minimum wage laws were invented to protect the “Anglo-Saxon” race from competition. Prof. Deirdre McCloskey explains the authoritarian roots of Progressivism.
New IRS data show that 71% of US taxpayers who make it into the ‘Top 400’ are there for only a single year
January 24, 2017 | Post
The top or bottom 1/5/10% by income, just like the top or bottom income quintiles, are never the same people from year to year, because there is constant, dynamic turnover as we move up and down the income categories.
Does inequality make us miserable?
December 28, 2016 | Post
Indeed, classical liberals are usually much more concerned with the alleviation of poverty, rather than hand-wringing about who might have a larger slice of an ever-widening pie.
Is culture the key to poverty?
December 20, 2016 | Post
A personal story about Vance’s climb from poor, white Appalachia to a Yale law degree and a white-collar career, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis will make you laugh, cry, and think carefully about the importance of culture for economic wellbeing.
The business of giving: What are we receiving?
December 8, 2016 | Post
A truly caring society depends on building relationships and community norms.