The Sin Tax Paradox
“It is time to jettison the notion of taxing sin and think hard again about the LBT advocated by Milton Friedman and Henry George, a tax on the unimproved value of land. It’s a tax, and hence bad, but it’s less distortionary than taxing income or sin and it doesn’t have to be high if government would only stick to its core functions.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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Daycare Costs are Driven by Over-Regulation
“Adding the direct and indirect effects of government policies on daycare costs forces one to accept that the crisis is created by government interventions. If one really cares about making it easier for households to have both parents working thanks to accessible childcare, one should really look at policies that increase the supply before considering ways to subsidize demand.” ~ Vincent Geloso
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This Is the Way
“If politicians cannot follow a code on their own, they are more unpredictably dangerous than any drug robber or Mandalorian following a strict code with consequences. The American people need to find a way to impose a binding code on politicians because ‘this is the way’ to a more prosperous future for all.” ~ Robert E. Wright
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Market Governance and Polycentrism
“Not only do polycentric systems of governance produce superior results for society over centralized systems, but such productive mechanisms and their benefits can be observed as institutions reflected by the market. These institutions disperse decision-making rights, provide checks on power, and create systems of order by driving cooperation from a diverse array of actors.” ~ Ethan Yang & Jack Nicastro
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The Bankruptcy of Conservative Political Paternalism
“Oren Cass is really figuring out how to outwit the progressives in the game of political plunderhood by devising coalitions in society that will put ‘his side’ in elected office next time around through a ‘conservative’ version of handouts of favors, privileges and subsidies. His ‘new’ conservatism, therefore, is really only the same old political paternalism, just in different rhetorical clothing. We need neither ‘progressives’ nor ‘conservatives’ of Cass’s ilk to manage the world.” ~ Richard M. Ebeling
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Minimum Wages Had a Eugenic Intent
“Let’s say that instead of a $15 an hour minimum, Congress pushed a $15 maximum wage/salary. The rich would simply stop working, while everyone else would likely lose professional aspiration. This is not complicated to understand. So too with a wage floor: it cuts the poor out of the market just as the eugenicists said it would.” ~ Jeffrey Tucker
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Why We Need Simple Rules for a Complex World
“Our current bias towards trying to make a government rule for every single issue that arises in society is not only ignorant of the very institutions of freedom that make our society prosper, but it also threatens to continue a vicious cycle that fuels an ever-encroaching state. A more optimal solution to address societal issues would be a paradigm shift to a system that understands the power and promise of simple rules in an ever more complex world.” ~ Ethan Yang
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A Nuanced Approach to China Part 3
“When it comes to protecting our intellectual property and ensuring good business practices, it is important that we are guided by reality and not a fantasized version drummed up by politicians for political gain. Harsh retaliation is neither productive or justifiable but standing idle is not a solution either. Our response to China must be measured, nuanced, and intelligent, as such an approach is the only way we will ever succeed.” ~ Ethan Yang
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A Vaccine Auction
“As long as the problems of efficiency and distributive justice are separable, one can leave vaccine allocation to a (thoughtfully designed) market while leaving it to elected officials to debate and pursue, at their own pace, the kind of distributive justice that they think their constituents deserve.” ~ Romans Pancs
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Why the UK Government Now Must, But Won’t, Abandon Lockdown
“Were it to be capable of learning from its ‘achievement,’ the Government should now self-consciously abandon the policy aimed at the entire population, the most important part of which would be to end lockdown, tiers, and all such general restrictions. But this would require the Government to acknowledge that its policy has been a mistake from the outset, and the general lack of capacity the Government has shown includes a lack of capacity to make such an acknowledgement.” ~ David Campbell
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Is the Public Interest Really In the Public’s Interest?
“The fact that something is popular doesn’t mean it is right or even beneficial. A better way forward is to simply lay out arguments in full, detailing why and how such proposals would result in the best outcomes for the most people while being prepared to own the consequences. This discussion should be accepting of contributions from all backgrounds and specializations and be open to hearing all solutions, state or market-based.” ~ AIER Staff
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Who Wanted Pandemic Lockdowns?
“That we will look back with astonishment at what has happened to the world is a near certainty. The folly! And people of the future will never stop asking that great question of why. The answer is finally unsatisfying. It was a massive screw up by people and groups who wanted to try something completely new, none of whom were willing to bear responsibility for the results. It will be up to the rest of us to pick up the pieces and get life on the right track again.” ~Jeffrey Tucker
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