The Anatomy of a Moral Panic
The notion of a moral panic is a powerful one that explains much of what goes on in popular mass media, public discussion, and, all too often, actual policy. It is a valuable intellectual tool to use to protect yourself against unwarranted and dangerous anxiety and being taken advantage of by deluded or unscrupulous hucksters.
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Imagine a Clock that Doesn’t Surveil You
It is like a living thing in your presence. It speaks with great profundity, the erudition achieved through wordless regularity.
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Soaking the Rich Doesn’t Lead to Income Equality
Economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman claim we need a 70% tax rate to stem inequality. Their argument derives from a misreading of U.S. tax history.
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The Origin and Meaning of Profits
There is no particular reason to expect that education or intellectual interests are an advantage in cultivating a habit of awareness of the sort Kirzner highlights. But there are very good reasons to argue that profits, deserved or not, are something that entrepreneurs should be legally entitled to seek.
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Political Division Is How We Grow Rich
What I’m suggesting here is that the divisions between these various centers of political, culture, and intellectual power are actually a good thing. I wouldn’t want anyone to win the great debates of our time. The end of division itself might be the worst possible outcome because it would imply that someone power source is now in charge. We actually don’t want anyone in charge. We want to recreate the conditions that made the West rich in the first place: tremendous diffusion of power and unending competition between all sectors of society.
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1920 Depression v. Great Depression
There is a reason why you’ve never heard of the depression that began in 1920.
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