Category:Poverty & Inequality
What Wasn't Said in "Wealth Inequality In America"
March 8, 2013 | Video
Wealth inequality may be REAL, but is it FAIR? And what does it mean for a society to be fair? Learn Liberty asked these questions to two professors — a libertarian (Professor Steve Horwitz), and an opposing philosopher (Professor Jeffrey Reiman) — in a debate on inequality in America. See the full debate: http://lrnlbty.co/YReLRm The […]
Debate: Is There Too Much Inequality?
March 8, 2013 | Video
Wealth inequality may be real, but is it fair? And what does it mean for a society to be fair? Learn Liberty asked these questions to two professors — a libertarian (Professor Steve Horwitz), and an opposing philosopher (Professor Jeffrey Reiman) — in a debate on inequality in America. The distribution of wealth in America […]
Is There Income Mobility in America?
December 20, 2012 | Video
We often hear that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. While a surface-level examination of U.S. households by quintile from 1967 to 2009 would seem to support this claim, Professor Sean Mulholland uses other data to show that this measure overlooks two vital pieces of information that should concern those […]
What’s Right about Social Justice?
December 14, 2012 | Video
What if libertarians and classical liberals were wrong and the free-market system actually did make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Would that change their support of those ideas? Professor Matt Zwolinski expects that it would. This implies that most proponents view how the poor fare under free-markets as more than just an attractive […]
Social Justice and Its Critics
November 30, 2012 | Video
Many argue that we should do more for the poor as a matter of social justice. In some cases, they mean we should use our own time and resources to assist those in need, but more often they mean the government should enact policies that try to help the poor in various ways. Meanwhile, many […]
Top 3 Ways Sweatshops Help The Poor Escape Poverty
June 7, 2012 | Video
Should sweatshops around the world be shut down? What might we say if we looked at sweatshops from the perspective of the world’s poor? While it may be true that sweatshops treat workers unfairly, Professor Matt Zwolinski says there are three points to be made in defense of sweatshops. The exchange between the worker and […]
Does the Minimum Wage Hurt Workers?
April 9, 2012 | Video
Some politicians argue that raising the minimum wage helps the poor and disadvantaged. While this may appear to be the case on the surface, economics professor Antony Davies explains that the common view of the minimum wage overlooks one important detail: The minimum wage does not force employers to pay a particular wage to every […]
The Real "Truth About the Economy:" Have Wages Stagnated?
January 31, 2012 | Video
Prof. Don Boudreaux responds to “The Truth About the Economy,” a recent video featuring former Labor Secretary Robert Reich (http://lrnlbty.co/z0ACuH). In the video, one of Reich’s key points is that most people’s wages have barely increased since 1980. However, when Reich’s numbers are examined in greater detail, his claim does not hold up. If you […]
Equality as an Ideal
January 30, 2012 | Video
Prof. Mark LeBar considers what kind of social or political ideal we ought to have, with a specific focus on equality. There are numerous types of equality, and philosophers tend to be concerned with what LeBar refers to as normative equality, which is concerned with how we as individuals ought to treat others. Within the […]
Rawls and Nozick on Liberty & Equality
September 16, 2011 | Video
Prof. James Otteson discusses the philosophers John Rawls and Robert Nozick, and their different views on liberty and equality. Rawls considered equality to be the moral benchmark for all social and political institutions, and felt that any deviation from equality must be specially justified. Nozick, on the other hand, considered liberty to be the more […]
Do Women Earn Less than Men?
August 30, 2011 | Video
Another contemporary economic myth is that women make 75 cents for every dollar men make because they’re discriminated against in labor markets. Like other myths, this does have a kernel of truth to it. So for example, if you add up all the incomes of women and divide by the number of women in the […]
Is the Cost of Living Really Rising?
August 17, 2011 | Video
According to Prof. Steve Horwitz, one contemporary economic myth is that the cost of living has consistently risen for Americans over the past century. In fact, prices are higher today than they were 100 years ago. However, prices today have been heavily influenced by inflation. One way of avoiding inflationary distortions is to look at […]
Liberty & Equality
June 28, 2011 | Video
Two central values of American political life are liberty and equality. Are these two values in tension with one another? As philosophy Prof. James Otteson explains, it depends on how you define equality. He traces two conceptions of equality. Formal equality comes from the form of institutions, such as equality before the law: all laws […]
Sweatshop Wages and Third-World Workers: Are the Wages Worth the Sweat
June 7, 2011 | Video
Prof. Ben Powell discusses the economics of sweatshops. He begins with a few photos and personal travel stories to demonstrate typical working conditions in third world countries. He then discusses the economic forces that determine working conditions and wages. Looking at empirical data, he finds that sweatshop workers earn higher wages than non-sweatshop workers in […]
The Unbelievable Truth about Sweatshops
June 6, 2011 | Video
Prof. Ben Powell discusses the importance of sweatshops in third world countries. Despite conventional views on the issue, sweatshops are actually the best alternative available to several third world workers. Further, sweatshops are part of an industrial development process that leads to higher wages and better working conditions. Heartfelt attempts to eliminate sweatshops actually reduce […]
Women and Minorities in Human History
March 25, 2011 | Video
Prof. Susan L. Brown addresses the topic of women and minorities through a historical and anthropological overview of human history. She traces the evolution of human society and sociability from the beginning of the species, through hunter-gatherers, early agriculture, the emergence of the state, to the present day. Through this history, she shows how human […]
Inequality, Consumption, & Happiness
March 1, 2011 | Video
From the IHS Vault: How well-off are we? Using economic data, economics professor Steve Horwitz addresses questions about inequality, consumption, happiness, and well-being. Are the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer? Is there income mobility in the United States? Are Americans happy? Are we “objectively” better off than we used to be? This […]
Are the Poor Getting Poorer?
February 16, 2011 | Video
People often say that “the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.” Economics professor Steve Horwitz explains why in the United States, this characterization is largely a myth. Real income levels of the poorest 20 percent of Americans have actually risen over time. Further, the individual households that comprise the bottom income […]
Equality and Respect
February 10, 2011 | Video
What do we mean when we talk about equality? How does equality relate to our concept of respect for others? Philosophy professor Aeon Skoble challenges students to take a fresh look at two seemingly familiar ideas.