Tag: markets
The fight for freedom in Cuba
July 29, 2021 | Post
Recently, Cuba has seen an unprecedented wave of protests against the ruling communist regime. Could freedom be on the horizon for Cuba?
Zora Neale Hurston: a genius of the south and anti-imperialist voice
March 30, 2021 | Post
Within and beyond her literature, Zora Neale Hurston was an outspoken anti-communist who opposed both the New Deal and interventionism abroad
The economics of Valentine’s Day
February 14, 2020 | Post
Valentine’s Day is only possible because of free markets. Our ability to appreciate and enjoy Valentine’s Day is the direct result of the wealth created by markets.
How the government ruined health care for those who need it most
December 8, 2017 | Post
If you develop an expensive chronic illness, you might think the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will protect you. Instead, you’re likely to end up with subpar coverage or no coverage at all for your condition.
Who are the most generous helpers in the wake of Hurricane Irma?
September 21, 2017 | Post
The media rarely celebrate ordinary people doing jobs for which they get paid. But the man selling several generators can be more impactful than the man giving one away.
Markets work with altruism, too
April 4, 2017 | Post
The market can route self-interest toward the common good. But the market channels altruism better than the state too.
Elinor Ostrom, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, and learning to see the women who have shaped the world
March 31, 2017 | Post
Well-behaved women seldom make history, but they should.
Why classical liberals need a research program
March 28, 2017 | Post
The first task of classical liberalism is to understand social order; normative conclusions must follow and flow from that understanding.
Entrepreneurs create value for disabled workers.
March 24, 2017 | Post
Any entrepreneur who succeeds in reducing costs faced by a laborer who suffers from a disability can earn a profit.
Trump, Trade, and Great Power War
March 23, 2017 | Post
One of the signature features of President Donald Trump’s campaign was his hostility to free trade. Then-candidate Trump repeatedly denigrated various multilateral trade pacts as bad deals for the United States. Pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, appointing opponents of free trade—such as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro—into key positions, and promises of tariffs that are likely to […]
Market demand is reforming farm ethics
March 10, 2017 | Post
Regardless of one’s position on eating meat, one can still care about not intentionally inflicting pain on animals.
The business case for supersonic overland
March 7, 2017 | Post
Wouldn’t a fleet of supersonic aircraft overland create intolerable sonic booms that would rattle windows and scare livestock?
Why sex work should be legal
March 6, 2017 | Post
The most straightforward reason to oppose the criminalization of the sex industry is that trading sex for money is not wrong.
How a telephone company used the government to monopolize an industry for decades
March 3, 2017 | Post
“Oh for the days of Ma Bell!” is not a lament we’re likely to hear. And for good reason. Before the breakup of AT&T, America’s telephone system was a government-sanctioned monopoly characterized by stagnant service offerings, high costs, and a glacial pace of consumer-facing innovation. So it was distressing when a federal appeals court engaged […]
Why can’t you pay for sex?
March 1, 2017 | Post
Consensual sex is legal. But as soon as one party offers cash to another in exchange for sex and that money is voluntarily accepted, it’s considered prostitution, and that is illegal.
Who makes the mountain paths? Freedom and the embrace of uncertainty.
March 1, 2017 | Post
The hike to the summit of Mount Lafayette in New Hampshire’s White Mountains climbs a steep and rugged 3550 feet over 4 miles. The winter snows bury the rocks; and after a storm, snowshoed hikers pack the snow into an almost-smooth “herd path” that others can then hike with light crampons. Step off that herd […]
What America needs most right now is more economic freedom.
February 24, 2017 | Post
If human flourishing is our goal, we must return to a society where economic freedom is championed.
Baristas with BAs: The result of central planning for schools
February 23, 2017 | Post
Government school systems fail to provide different kinds of instruction as appropriate to different kinds of students in different places and times.
Will President Trump kill capitalism?
February 23, 2017 | Post
Capitalism—stronger than any border wall or immigration ban—remains a resilient and deeply American system.
Trade restrictions imperil our standard of living
February 17, 2017 | Post
“The market is not a place, a thing, a collective entity. The market is a process, actuated by the interplay of the actions of the various individuals cooperating under the division of labor.” – Ludwig von Mises
William Graham Sumner Part 2—The Rejection of Social Darwinism
February 12, 2017 | Post
Not only is the charge of Sumner being a social Darwinist unfair, but it characterizes his views as nearly the opposite of what they actually were.
William Graham Sumner Part 1 – Laissez-Faire and Social Darwinism
February 12, 2017 | Post
William Graham Sumner often gets unfairly labeled a social Darwinist. In this first post in a new series, Zwolinski tries to nail down just what “social Darwinism” means.
“America First!” and Anti-Social Communitarianism
February 11, 2017 | Post
The problem with communitarianism is that many communitarians make for bad community members. Many of them are “society first, individual second!” to the point of being anti-social. They aren’t the kind of people you’d want to live near. Look, I get why people like community. I live in a fairly tight-knit community myself. We have little […]
Explaining the Protectionist Instinct
February 10, 2017 | Post
One of the gravest economic mistakes that humans can make is to forget that ours is unavoidably a world of scarcity.