If you’ve been to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, you might think that they are new phenomena, made possible only by the wonder of the Internet. That’s true in part, but crowdfunding actually has a long and proud tradition dating back well before the web was a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee’s eye. As my colleague […]
“Government,” observed the renowned Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, “is the only institution that can take a valuable commodity like paper, and make it worthless by applying ink.” Mises was describing the curse of inflation, the process whereby government expands a nation’s money supply and thereby erodes the value of each monetary unit—dollar, peso, pound, […]
We need rule of law, not law and order by Sandy Ikeda: Today, the difference between law and order and rule of law is literally a matter of life and death. Rarely has that difference been illustrated so starkly as on the streets and inside the courtrooms of St. Louis County, Missouri, and Staten Island, New York. The […]
The problem is not just benighted cops, but over criminalization by Michael Munger: An interesting split has been developing in the reactions to the Ferguson and the Staten Island grand jury decisions. When you look closely, this is exactly the division that has for so long defined the American left and right and has kept […]
by Max Borders and Jeffrey A. Tucker: It’s been over a year since we published “50 Ways to Leave Leviathan.” That successful piece showed how innovation and entrepreneurship are gradually undermining the top-down, command-and-control approach to governance. It is happening quickly by any historical standard, but it is also happening incrementally in ways that cause […]
What if these are variations of the same revolution? by Jeffrey A. Tucker: Viral videos of beatings and killings by police are forging what might be a significant and lasting political movement — a full-scale revolt against what everyone used to believe was the most essential function of the state. Not only has this function […]
“A New Year’s resolution,” the old wisecrack advises, “is something that goes in one year and out the other.” True enough for most of us, most of the time. So when 2013 got underway, I decided to skip the resolution ritual. Instead, I planned to work harder, longer, and smarter this year on behalf of […]
You are your most important project for liberty. by Jacob H. Huebert: When Leonard Read created the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) in 1946, the prospects for liberty must have seemed bleak. Central planning had become the norm in the United States during the New Deal and World War II. Intellectuals and politicians almost universally […]
One of the most intractable problems of economics is not that it’s a dismal science, although that can be true. It’s that it’s easy to use the discipline to justify telling people what they want to hear. There is a Wizard of Oz quality about economics, especially these days. Data are treated as tea leaves […]
Big ideas most people don’t understand about the economy. by Richard Lorenc: I was in an Uber car the other day, returning from a conference. I love Uber and used it for years in Chicago before returning to my hometown, Atlanta. There are a lot of amusing exposés out there contending that the majority of […]
Permission is hereby granted to reprint these essays in whole or in part. by Jeffrey A. Tucker: There’s been a big change at FEE that we hope will inspire you to appreciate and share our work more than ever before. What’s interesting about this change is how it both embodies the philosophy we represent and […]
Or do wages reflect the choices we make? by Corey Lacono: Is it an embarrassment that women are paid so much less than men? That’s what the president says. Over and over. “Today, the average full-time working woman earns just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns,” President Obama reported in a speech back in April. […]
“Voodoo economics” versus straw-man arguments by Robert P. Murphy: In a recent speech in Little Rock, former president Bill Clinton said, “In the first eight years of trickle-down economics under President Reagan, we tripled the debt.” The former president claims his “first job” in the White House was to “get rid” of “trickle-down economics,” as critics like […]
Things are only going to get more uncomfortable from here on out by Sarah Skwire: Mockingjay – Part One is an uncomfortable movie. I suspect this is why it has not been greeted with the praise that was heaped on The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. But I’m glad this first part of Mockingjay isn’t comfortable. It’s not supposed to be. As Mockingjay opens, […]
Does the lodging industry need government regulation? I don’t think so, and I’m more convinced than before after listening to a fascinating EconTalk conversation between host Russ Roberts and Nathan Blecharczyk, a founder of the lodging service Airbnb. Blecharczyk explains that every Airbnb customer rates every property in which she stays for cleanliness, value, and the accuracy […]