Topic: Property Rights

Environmentalism, Property Rights, Regulation

A Short Guide to ESG: Philosophical Problems

– January 12, 2024

“At the end of the day, much of the Environmental, Social, and Governance movement rests on a pretense of knowledge. What’s worse, it puts the interest of the ‘collective’ over the wellbeing of individuals.” ~Paul Mueller

Classical Liberalism, Property Rights, Regulation

Land of the Free – An Update

– January 5, 2024

“We live in an era dominated by the doctrine of prior restraint, the notion that all actions (individual or corporate) should be forestalled until approved by an appropriate authority. It is an ugly inversion of a bedrock principle of a free society.’ ~Paul Schwennesen

Economic Growth, Property Rights, Regulation

The Sad Irony of “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY)

– January 2, 2024

“Recasting the NIMBY debate in social terms would convince even the most ardent NIMBY activist to reconsider. America’s blight with homelessness, for example, can be remedied by increasing the housing supply.” ~Michael Peterson

Free Markets, Property Rights, Regulation

Let People Reimagine Housing to Make It More Affordable

– January 2, 2024

“People might be willing to live without their own kitchens and bathrooms if it means a cheaper place to sleep. Regulation’s underlying philosophy is that I know better than you how you should live and what tradeoffs you should make.” ~Art Carden

Art and Culture, Economic History, Property Rights, Socialism

The Failure of the Pilgrims’ First Christmas

– December 25, 2023

“Believing that human nature is flawed and selfish, the colony leadership should have known that any system based on voluntary goodness was bound to fail.” ~Will Sellers

Classical Liberalism, Environmentalism, Property Rights

Leave The Fence Alone: On ‘Toward a Political Economy of the Commons: Simple Rules for Sustainability’

– December 20, 2023

“Polycentric governance, secure property rights, and free markets reinforced by a culture valuing trust, patience, and individualism lead to successful management of common-pool resources like forests, fisheries, minerals, and climate.” ~Art Carden

Classical Liberalism, Economic Growth, Environmentalism, Property Rights

Degrowth Kills People – Yes, Literally

– December 19, 2023

“The primary obstacle to continuous improvement in the human condition is human (political or ideological) interference with the liberty of others.” ~Emile Phaneuf III & Christopher Lingle

Economic Growth, Property Rights, Taxation

The Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals Have a Plan: It Shouldn’t Surprise You

– December 18, 2023

“Independent scholarly studies in economics have found that the promised economic benefit from hosting a team or investing in a new facility rarely pays off financially.” ~Andrew Zimbalist

Government, Property Rights, Taxation

I Fought the Google, and the Google Won

– December 16, 2023

“The plaintiffs were all taxpayers in NC, but we had no actual say about how those payments taken from us were to be spent, even if the spending violated the Constitution of the state.” ~Michael Munger

Economic Growth, History, Property Rights, Regulation

Resistance to Revitalization? When Neighborhoods Change but Regulations Don’t

– December 15, 2023

“The amount of red tape and regulation, fees and form-filling that government has wrapped around simple collaboration isn’t just irritating and expensive. On a deep level, it’s inhuman.” ~Laura Williams

Art and Culture, Economic History, Fiscal Policy, Property Rights

What Might Have Been

– December 3, 2023

“Wasteful uses of resources necessarily result in some economic opportunities that are possible being rendered impossible. What were these foregone opportunities?” ~Donald J. Boudreaux

Crisis, Education, Property Rights

How Can We Stop Serving Students So Poorly?

– November 20, 2023

“Efforts to improve things with charter schools have shown some great results, and vouchers are attractive as a means to make educators more responsible to parents than to administrators. But we are still in the early stages of a very long struggle.” ~Gary M. Galles