2020-2030 Could Be the Decade of Economic Malaise

– November 3, 2020

“If history shows us anything, this experience may very well spark a renaissance for the ideas of limited government and markets. If only we could learn this the easy way rather than the hard way.” ~ Ethan Yang

READ MORE

“Slide-Rule Aid”? Why Not?

– October 31, 2020

“Saving one industry means hurting another, and I cannot help but wonder: what troubles have we endured and what progress have we sacrificed in order to protect obsolete producers of soybeans, steel, shirts, schooling…and slide rules?” ~ Art Carden

READ MORE

Leave Me Alone and I’ll Make You Rich: Who Made Our Book Possible?

– October 30, 2020

“Our book’s policy recommendations can be reduced to two words: stop it. Consider the possibility that the people you wish to tax, regulate, subsidize, evaluate, and experiment upon should simply be left alone to go about their business. Stop it, we say, and let them make us rich.” ~ Art Carden

READ MORE
red pill blue pill

A Guide for Free Thinkers: They’re Both Wrong

– October 29, 2020

“Tamny’s book is essential not just because it provides insightful commentary on important political issues but because it provides a timeless lesson. This is that a country, a government, and a society cannot sustain itself on a foundation of weak narratives. Independent thought and rigorous conversations are what form the backbone of a vibrant democracy.” ~ Ethan Yang

READ MORE

The Tide-Theory of Climate Change

– October 28, 2020

“Adaptation matters. Economic growth matters. Feats of engineering most certainly matter, as do flexibility and ingenuity of unregulated markets. Everyone from serious climate researchers to less-serious climate activists seem to forget that.” ~ Joakim Book

READ MORE

Walmart’s “Buy American” Commitment Won’t Make America Great Again

– October 26, 2020

“In its almost sixty years of existence, Walmart has revolutionized American retail and raised American standards of living by innovating in shipping, selling, and shopping. They certainly have the potential to continue doing so–but paying extra for stuff just because it was produced in the United States won’t help them or their customers in the long run.” ~ Art Carden

READ MORE

Google is Not a Monopoly

– October 23, 2020

“Google is a lot of things. Maybe they have become evil, as the left would tell us when alleging that YouTube’s algorithms are unwittingly supporting, galvanizing, and expanding the alt-right or as the right would tell us when alleging that Google’s search results are rigged to advance a progressive agenda. The charge of “monopoly” doesn’t stick, though, because it’s pretty easy for people who don’t want what Google has to offer to take their business elsewhere.” ~ Art Carden

READ MORE
neighborhood bar

The Death and Life of the Great Third Place

– October 21, 2020

“We might also emerge from this bizarre Orwellian dystopia with a renewed appreciation for Main Street, community, and the third spaces. These places define normal and make us who we are. We support them because they support us in more ways than we realize. Perhaps we took these places for granted. Never again.” ~ Brad DeVos

READ MORE
clarity, mountain

The Economic Way of Thinking Brings Clarity

– October 20, 2020

“Nancy Pelosi presides over a chamber of politicians who vote on taxing and spending bills that transfer money from some Americans to other Americans – a fact that (inexplicably!) propels Ms. Pelosi to boast that she and her colleagues, not taxpayers such as Mr. Blitzer, feed poor Americans. On top of this appalling pretension, Ms. Pelosi expects CNN’s audience to believe that she and her Congressional colleagues ‘know’ poor Americans in a way that non-politicians don’t.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

READ MORE
british flags

Keukentafel Economics and the History of British Imperialism

– October 4, 2020

“Let’s get on with it, then: honest courts, good schooling, non-extractive governments, property rights for squatters, free international and internal trade, employment laws that do not protect only the presently employed.” ~ Deirdre McCloskey

READ MORE
bright america

Is America in Decline?

– October 2, 2020

“America cannot be the literal Top Nation forever, nor should it be, nor does it matter. Being smart and hardworking and fulfilled are what matter, not tiny percentage differences of income between rich countries, 10 percent plus or minus. America is not declining. In the modern world, no income per head actually declines in absolute terms, unless through war or socialism.” ~ Deirdre McCloskey

READ MORE
james buchanan

James M. Buchanan’s Normative Vision Fifteen Years Later

– September 30, 2020

“Why I, Too, Am Not a Conservative lays out a subtle, complex, and principled vision for a functioning society of equals. Autonomy and reciprocity, he argues, are necessary for peace, order, and prosperity, but at the same time he doesn’t see it as his role to deconstruct society and rebuild it along these lines. Buchanan is critical of radicals who would force others to be free, or who would seek liberal ends by illiberal means.” ~ Art Carden

READ MORE