Suppose Daniel, a singer, writes a song that becomes very popular. After listening to the song, Josh, another singer, performs it with his own band. How would you respond to Daniel’s complaints that Josh stole his song? If Josh makes money from performing the song, does Daniel deserve a fraction (or all) of Josh’s earnings? […]
Are you interested in a career in public policy, journalism, video production, or fundraising? The Reason Foundation, which produces Reason Magazine, is looking for summer interns. An internship with the Reason Foundation is an excellent way to get your foot in the door—previous interns have gone on to work at such places as The Wall […]
If you haven’t checked us out on Periscope make sure to stay tuned this week, to discuss our new video releases and help us choose our next video! These are our scheduled streams for this week: Wednesday, February 17th @ 2pm EST – Learn Liberty Video Pitch Periscope Friday, February 19th @ 2pm EST – […]
In this quote Aristotle is providing insight to what economists would later call The Tragedy of the Commons. What is the Tragedy of the Commons? Professor Sean Mulholland lays it out below:
Capitalism is frequently misrepresented on the news, on social media, and in numerous other places. These sources portray the big, evil company as the “dark side”, which is personified by a CEO. In contrast, the “mom and pop” small business owner is heroic – that is, until they become a “big player” and start “exploiting” […]
The draft has been unpopular for quite a while. Most people don’t like the idea of being forced to fight in a war, and now US citizens have even more reason for dismay: top generals have been suggesting to expand the draft to include women. This isn’t a shocking surprise, given the recent decisions to […]
Big crises raise big questions. And in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, economists are asking billion-dollar macroeconomic questions: What causes market fluctuations? What causes business cycles? In this series of videos, Professor Tyler Cowen vets contenders for the title of “top macroeconomic theory” – Keynesian, Austrian, and Monetarist, and Real Business Cycle […]
What a difference just five years will make. The U.S. national debt reached $19 trillion. How can we grasp such an unfathomable number? Here at Learn Liberty, we’ve been trying to answer that question for years. In fact, our very first video attempted to contextualize the size of the then $14 trillion debt. With help […]
Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson was written by Henry Hazlitt and first published 70 years ago, in 1946. The book is based on Frederic Bastiat’s famous essay, “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen,” and details a number of economic fallacies. The whole book is available to read for free online, thanks to […]
February 11th is Learn Liberty’s 5th Birthday. For the last 1,827 days we have worked to bring the ideas of free markets and a free society to life through videos, which have now reached every corner of the globe. To celebrate our anniversary, we’re sharing the top five most viewed videos in Learn Liberty history: […]
In a recent Politico story, Matthew MacWilliams identified the one trait which predicts if you’re a Trump supporter. It wasn’t gender, race, age, income, or religion. It’s authoritarianism. Max Borders has broken down what makes someone authoritarian over at FEE’s blog in a great piece: Beware Your Inner Authoritarian. He explores the foundations of people’s […]
Are you a leader in your campus pro-liberty group? Do you want to up your impact on campus and improve your leadership skills? Consider becoming a Campus Coordinator with Students For Liberty. Students For Liberty is an international network of students passionate about the ideas of liberty, and their Campus Coordinators are the face of […]
If you haven’t checked us out on Periscope make sure to stay tuned this week, to discuss our new video releases and help us choose our next video! These are our scheduled streams for this week: Wednesday, February 10th @ 2pm EST – Learn Liberty Video Pitch Periscope Thursday, February 11th – Learn Liberty 5th […]
Many a political commentator will make the argument that something is a right. But have you ever seriously considered what constitutes a right? This is an important philosophical, as well as political and economic question we must ask ourselves when determining the proper role of government in a free society. In this Learn Liberty video […]
Why does your iPhone cost $200.00? Why is the price of gas so volatile? What gives Uber the right to enact “surge pricing”? It’s easy to think of prices and profit as symbols of greed and corporate power, but prices are really just bits of compressed information that save you time and effort! What do […]
What do UFC fighters and prostitutes have in common? Both deal with individual adults who choose to use their bodies how they see fit, in various ways. The former was almost banned thanks to Senator John McCain who compared mixed martial arts (MMA) to human cockfighting, while the latter remains illegal, except in certain counties […]
Somewhere along about 2005 I started hearing about “Peak _____,” where the blank is some resource such as oil, water, food, and so on. The pique about “Peak” was based on the notion that “we” (and I’m not sure what that means) had reached the point of maximum production, and that the future was a […]
The following appeared on Professor Don Boudreaux’s blog Cafe Hayek on January 24th, 2016. The following is an excerpt. Be sure to head over to his blog to check out the whole piece packed full of economic wisdom. In The Road to Serfdom,* F.A. Hayek makes an elaborate and important point that is summarized nicely, I […]
In the summer of 2013, Edward Snowden revealed to the newspaper The Guardian that the NSA was monitoring the metadata and content of every American citizen’s electronic communications (metadata is the details of the message – to whom, when, where, etc.) in order to protect America from terrorist threats. Is the NSA going too far? […]
In addition to being an anarchist, economist, and son of Milton Friedman, David Friedman is a fan of Recreational Medievalism. Recreational Medievalism includes a range of activities, which can include historical recreation like that of the Society for the Creative Anachronism and cooking recipes from medieval Europe. You can learn more on David Friedman’s website
The Institute for Justice released a great video last week which describes just one of their cases regarding political speech. They point out how laws restricting freedom of speech, especially political speech, can have a negative impact on political dialog—and that the people who have the most to gain from these laws are politicians themselves. […]
If you’re interested in Ayn Rand’s writing and will be attending the International Students for Liberty Conference, come a day early and learn about Ayn Rand’s unique and integrated moral-philosophical argument and its connection to a free society. The seminar will examine three of her essays, “The Objectivist Ethics,” “Man’s Rights,” and “What Is Capitalism” […]
Author Ayn Rand is one of the most divisive thinkers of the modern era, but does her work hint at themes that are common to most if not all of us? In honor of her birthday, take a moment to reflect on whether or not you would want to live in the world Rand created […]