Heart of Glass
by“The real problem of humanity is the following: we have paleolithic emotions; medieval institutions; and god-like technology. And it is terrifically dangerous, and it…
Ludwig von Mises on Reducing the Size and Scope of Government
byThe world seems to be moving at an accelerated rate in a more collectivist direction. The potential trade wars set in motion by Donald…
Milton Friedman’s guitar string boom-bust cycle theory
byBy Dr Frank Shostak It is popular in economics to employ metaphors in orders to provide support to a particular idea. For instance, some…
Green Markets, Not Green Leviathans
byHow bottom-up rules and private property can protect the environment better than distant bureaucracies By Elias Sanchez While travelling through the Bolivian Amazon, I…
No Matter Who Is President, Don’t Trust Government Data
byby Connor O’Keeffe President Trump caused a stir last Friday after he fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) hours after…
Trade-Offs in Trump’s Trade Policy
byby Michael Froman One of the hardest jobs of a policymaker is to weigh trade-offs. Few policies are clean, absolute, and without costs. The…
The trick that changed the world
by“..for any entity beyond maturity, further growth equates either to obesity, or cancer.” “Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange…
Does a government budget surplus contribute to national savings?
byBy Dr Frank Shostak By popular thinking the budget deficit reduces national savings, whilst a budget surplus is seen as contributing to savings. National…
Fungibility: The Legal Fiction at the Heart of Modern Money
byFrom gold to government IOUs—the quiet revolution in what money means By Elias Sanchez Ask someone what money is, and they’ll likely gesture to…
The Economic Success of Singapore and Hong Kong
byBy Lipton Matthews Bryan Cheang’s Economic Liberalism and the Developmental State is a timely and intellectually daring book that enters the long-standing debate over the East…