Topic: Economic History

The Super-Rich Are Not Who You Think They Are!

– June 9, 2021

“The work of Scott provides a powerful illustration of the importance of the qualification proposed by defenders of the super-rich. It is not wealth that is problematic, it is wealth generated by muting the forces of the market process (i.e. by rent-seeking). In other words, the policies that produce inequality matter!” ~ Vincent Geloso

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FDR Versus Liberalism: Quotations From David Green, 1987

– June 7, 2021

“In my view, one does well to climb out of Roosevelt’s trenches and rejoin the great arc of Western civilization. The more people who uphold the liberal semantic christened by Adam Smith, the better.” ~ Daniel B. Klein

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Inequality Can Be Hurtful…in Unfree Societies

– June 5, 2021

“Economically free nations tend, by virtue of their protection of property rights, to produce more rewards to effort which increases the likelihood of upward mobility. There is one simple implication from this: if you are concerned about the societal effects of inequality, you really are concerned by the low quality of institutions.” ~ Vincent Geloso

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‘Big Tech’ Risks Going Down a Path of Decline Paved by ‘Big Rail’

– May 25, 2021

“Here’s hoping a desire for near-term comfort from competition, criticism, and the markets doesn’t do to Big Tech what was done to Big Rail. Time will tell. But for now, it seems Big Tech is intent on traveling a path toward average that was first paved by the 19th century’s most innovative minds.” ~ John Tamny

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Supply-Side Neoliberalism Sure Beats the Alternative

– May 25, 2021

“The near-phobic disdain for supply-side economics and neoliberalism this century is part of a new wave of anti-capitalist sentiment. We have seen this movie before. It is a horror film. The true friends of rationality, liberty, and prosperity should wake up, stand proudly, and contend boldly.” ~ Richard M. Salsman

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Addressing Financial Exclusion: The Right Way and the Wrong Way

– May 24, 2021

“Marginalized groups of people are more than capable of succeeding when you just get out of the way. Policymakers today must understand the devastating consequences of well-intentioned policies and the hard fact that an imperfect private sector response is far preferable to a counterproductive government response.” ~ Ethan Yang

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The War on Retirement

– May 22, 2021

“The American version of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, the event that began the steady march toward oblivion, was the passage of the Social Security Act in 1935. The dominos have been falling ever since, and the last ones are about to tip over, intentions be damned.” ~ James R. Harrigan & Antony Davies

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The Industrial Revolution Was Not a Wash!

– May 14, 2021

“The findings of these recent articles are incredible for anyone seeking to bridge the divide between scholarly knowledge and the popular imagination. They show that even the worst-case scenario implies that the Industrial Revolution constituted a momentous and positive development in terms of the quality of life of the poorest.” ~ Vincent Geloso

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Moritz J. Bonn: A Classical Liberal Voice in a Collectivist World

– April 28, 2021

“Moritz J. Bonn was one of those classical-liberal voices of the twentieth century who understood how and why the world had turned away from its earlier roots in a philosophy, a politics, and an economics of freedom. He, like others from those middle decades of the last century, still has something of value to say and share with us. We should not allow them to be completely forgotten.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

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The Ukraine Famine of 1933 was a Government-Made Disaster

– April 20, 2021

“This work of economic history is not just worth reading because of its well-executed nature. It is worth reading because it is a potent reminder of how governments can fuel some of the worst disasters in human history.” ~ Vincent Geloso

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Carl Menger’s Theory of Institutions and Market Processes

– April 13, 2021

“Let us hope that the 150th anniversary of both the ‘marginalist’ revolution, and Menger’s distinct development of it along with his ideas about the surrounding social and market processes, can serve as the inspiration for such a rethink when thinking about man, markets and the institutions in which we live.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling

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Thomas Paine, Debt Realist and Political Economist Extraordinaire

– March 22, 2021

“Paine’s remarkably accurate and pithily expressed ideas about political economy can now be found in a convenient edition of his work, The Best of Thomas Paine, published by AIER and edited by yours truly.”~ Robert E. Wright

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