Topic: Free Markets

Immigration Can Ease America’s Labor Shortage

“We can — and should — offer ways to draw these domestic workers back into the American economy without casting aside the vast reservoir of immigrant workers awaiting their chance at a new life.” ~ Michael N. Peterson

Dismal is Better

“Today the social isolation of the economically minded has different proximate causes, but the underlying reason economic reasoning stands alone is that it stands athwart the desire of many people, perhaps most people, to rearrange the actual world into a world that they can imagine.” ~ Michael C. Munger

De-dollarization Has Begun: Redux

“Given the increasing use of the dollar as a means of imposing sanctions, some foreign powers see a pressing need to develop the capability to transact outside of US-dollar-based systems. We are witnessing the development of financial contingency plans.” ~ Peter C. Earle

Will AI Eat Our Lunch or Make It?

“Chefs, servers, and hosts often have a wide set of skills that cannot be easily replicated by AI technologies, which suggests fears of AI’s unemployment effects are overblown.” ~ Byron Carson & Katie Pitcher

Economists’ Meaning of “Consumption”

“Because ‘to produce’ means ‘to increase humans’ opportunities to consume,’ Adam Smith is correct: consumption is indeed the sole end and purpose of all production.” ~ Donald J. Boudreaux

De-dollarization Has Begun.

“The dollar, in some shape or form, will likely be around for a long time. Perhaps very long. But by weaponizing dollar dominance and permitting expanding mandates to disorient US monetary policy, the dollar’s fate as the lingua franca of world commerce over the long haul may already be sealed.” ~ Peter C. Earle

Financial Exclusion: How Competition Can Fix a Broken System

Cooperation and Coercion: How Busybodies Became Busybullies and What that Means for Economics and Politics

What if Gold Coins Were Mated With Bank Notes? An Interview with Jeremy Cordon of Goldback

“There is certainly a market for sound money that is hard to serve legally. Yet Cordon has proposed a way to serve that market – at least in an anachronistic sense. But those bought into the promise of cryptocurrencies, might have doubts. Cordon agreed to be interviewed.” ~ Max Borders

Greta Thunberg’s War Against Wind Farms

“The Manichean view clutched by climate activists like Thunberg undercut the very goals they wish to achieve, by neglecting the power of human ingenuity. After all, the ultimate resource is the human mind, not government fiat.” ~ Michael N. Peterson

Can We Stop Bleeding the Taxpayers to Cover Unpaid Student Loans?

“Irresponsible student lending has cost the US a great deal already. It is time to stop the bleeding by saying to colleges, ‘If you want to receive federal student aid money, you’ll have to stand behind the loans.'” ~ George Leef

John Cowperthwaite: An Underappreciated Champion of Economic Development?

“This nuance, while it may dampen any classical liberal’s affection for John Cowperthwaite, should only reinforce one’s commitment to the principles of a free society as instruments of development and progress.” ~ Vincent Geloso