Individualism and Public Health: Tensions and Challenges
“The aim should be to strictly fence off and limit the scope of coercive public health as both an ideal and a practice. We should think of it as something like a nuclear reactor core – useful, even essential but something that needs to be tightly contained. This is the kind of project and activity that individualists and classical liberals should be engaged in.” ~ Stephen Davies
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Who Owns Leftover and Abandoned Bar Food?
“Figuring out the exact property rights isn’t worth the hassle: it’s too little and too rare to care about enforcing whatever legal right might be applicable in various jurisdictions. In practice, the ownership of leftover food is up to the social norms in the country you’re in, or even the attitude of the staff at the particular establishment you’re visiting – an informal institution, guided by vague and constantly negotiated social interactions.” ~ Joakim Book
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Do We Really Need More Movie Sequels? If the Market Says So, Then Yes We Do
“Studios make sequels because they expect them to be profitable. This is a good thing, though, because they are working to make Mickey and Minnie Moviegoer better off as Mickey and Minnie choose to define it according to their own preferences, values, goals, and opportunities.” ~ Art Carden
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A Keynesian Path Would Be the Wrong Path for the U.S. Economy
“Following a crisis, countries with higher levels of economic freedom–that is, with institutions closer to those proposed by Hayek than Keynes–suffered smaller economic contractions and faster recoveries. Keynesian ideas have dominated the political worldview for decades. But we would be better off following Hayek.” ~ Nicolás Cachanosky
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How Much Should You Sell Your Vote For This November?
“All that can be said for certain is that in most states it is now quite possible to do so and that the masked stranger does not even have to work for a political party or candidate. In fact, vote buying solves problems for donors by ensuring maximum effect for each dollar spent and by sidestepping campaign finance laws.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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On Externalities and Noise
“There is no world where trade-offs don’t apply, where we can have all the nice things we want without anybody, anywhere, getting upset. Externalities are everywhere, but if we want to live prosperous lives, some part of those lives will be impacted by others. Get over it.” ~ Joakim Book
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Who Is Making Decisions about Our Lives
“What reason is there to trust that These People who never look past the next election – and who always ignore consequences that are difficult to see if these consequences are spread over large numbers of individuals – are making a prudently considered trade-off between the lockdown’s costs and its benefits?” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux
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Extend the Market, As Far as Possible
“Private enterprise and private governance pushed along by people seeking little more than their own advantages work remarkably well. If you want more evidence, look no further than the package on your doorstep.” ~ Art Carden
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A Green Minimum Wage
“Farmers who want to retain good, experienced farm hands should be free to pay a dollar a week, day, hour, or minute to those same people, as they mutually agree. And when the world not only does not end but improves due to the policy, let’s extend it to other types of employers as well.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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Entrepreneurship and the Human Experience
“Economics should not be viewed as a clean and sterile science that seeks to chart the world with equations. Rather it should seek to understand the oftentimes chaotic and messy nature of the market driven by the grit and wit of entrepreneurs.” ~ Ethan Yang
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The Economy after COVID-19
“One thing is certain: life in America is not going to be the same after COVID-19. Like the Great Depression and World War II, the pandemic will exert an impact for years, perhaps even decades, on the nation’s economic and political fortunes.” ~ James D. Gwartney
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Liberty Is the Theme of the American Spirit
“However you may have enjoyed and celebrated the 4th of July in these unusual times, be sure to keep in mind that what that day is really all about is the hope and reality of free human beings in a free world based on the moving and profoundly moral ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence: that individual liberty is natural, moral, and necessary if people are to find personal happiness and fulfillment, along with prosperity.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling
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