Free Markets
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Is America in Decline?
“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…
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James M. Buchanan’s Normative Vision Fifteen Years Later
“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…
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The Swedish Bumblebee
“On economic well-being, it’s clear that a country with an invasively large government sector and extraordinarily high taxes can still perform well. In the corona debates, the simplified story that lockdowns prevent spread and open societies kill people should be relegated to the dustbin of impressive theories at odds with reality.” ~ Joakim Book
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A Warning from Two Hedge Fund Managers: Rigged to Fail
“At the end of the day, we should all learn from history. We have seen which monetary policies work and which ones fail. We know what a drunk looks like and we know an unsustainable market when we see one. Eventually there are consequences for risky behavior. Relying on proven principles may not be as…
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Abolishing California Passenger Cars Could Reduce Global Greenhouse Gases – by 0.26%
“Governor Newsom claims the right to dictate what sort of new cars Californians can buy, but not until 2035. When 2035 arrives, a different California Governor and legislature will surely ignore Newsom’s political time bomb. For one state to switch to electric cars would be demonstrably irrelevant to global warming, but not to the right…
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The Banning of WeChat and TikTok Is Unbearably Dangerous Politics
“Ultimately what’s happening is irresponsible in addition to unreasonable. Let’s stop penalizing Chinese businesses for having the temerity to operate under less than ideal political conditions. They’re more like we are than most want to admit.” ~ John Tamny
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Milton Friedman and the New Attack on Freedom to Choose
“If the paternalistic policies and the ideological arrogance and intolerance behind these counterrevolutionaries against freedom and the free market fully prevail, the liberty that we still possess will be even more greatly curtailed than at present, as those who call for the ‘social responsibility’ of business restrict our remaining freedom to choose.” ~ Richard M.…
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News You Can’t Abuse
“A news outlet that posted a bond with a third party that would be forfeited if it insisted on publishing anything factually wrong, or crossed the line between journalism and punditry, could create the sort of trust that people once had in the New York Times and other papers of record, all of which essentially…
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Free to Choose After Forty Years
“Free to Choose holds up very well even after forty years. Friedman’s analysis still holds, and it’s interesting to see (for example) how the rhetoric of the opposition to educational choice hasn’t really changed. Free to Choose does more than show that freedom works. It explains why, and it does so memorably.” ~ Art Carden
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Don’t Scapegoat Business for Mask Mandates
“Brutalist methods will not rebuild social peace. This is not a call to accept mandates, but such mandates can be opposed without blaming the small business owners who are victimized just as much as we are.” ~ Barry Brownstein
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The Academy’s Monopoly on the Truth Is Crumbling
“Just like in markets, truly revolutionary technologies never destroy the old order–they usually accomplish more through adoption, changing established players from within. Goodacre’s efforts, especially as a hub where traditional academic insiders and outsiders met, teaches us much about how new technology changes old institutions. More academics should learn the lesson.” ~ Max Gulker
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What’s the Right Mix of Money and Drugs for Your Employees?
“There isn’t a ‘right’ combination of wages, benefits, and other perquisites, and the pattern of things that ‘work’ for people is not planned by a central authority. It emerges from trial and error in the market.” ~ Art Carden
