By Art Carden Arthur Diamond’s Openness to Creative Destruction: Sustaining Innovative Dynamism joins a growing pile of books that seek to explain what the economic historian Deirdre McCloskey calls the Great Fact: the mind-boggling increases in per capita income in the last two and a half centuries that started in Northwestern Europe and spread around the world. Diamond … [Read more...] about New Ideas are the Key to Economic Development
Trends & Strategies for Maximum Freedom
California’s War on Gig Work Falls Hardest on Women
By Ben Johnson This year, California’s progressives decided to wage war on the nightmare of being your own boss. A new state law aimed at limiting the gig economy has already cost hundreds of people their jobs—and had a seriously harmful impact on women’s earnings and long-term happiness. Assembly Bill 5 curbs the ability of companies like Uber and Lyft to classify their … [Read more...] about California’s War on Gig Work Falls Hardest on Women
£100 Christmas Advertisement Encouraging People To Shop Locally Goes Viral
By John Vibes The holiday season has become a very lucrative time of year for many of the big corporations that we all love to hate; and in recent years, Amazon is where most of our money ends up getting spent. Online shopping took over because it is the most convenient option, and Amazon seems to have everything at the lowest prices, but supporting local businesses … [Read more...] about £100 Christmas Advertisement Encouraging People To Shop Locally Goes Viral
3D Printed Homes Can Empower Humanity
By Jason Bermas Counter Markets Editor's Note: 3D printing in general is something we have featured in our newsletters and is definitely one of the positive uses for technology, whether it's consumer products, guns, or houses. As Jason Bermas discusses in this video, 3D-printed homes can particularly help homeless people or low-income families. A new community project in … [Read more...] about 3D Printed Homes Can Empower Humanity
Construction On World’s First 3D-Printed Community Begins In Mexico
By John Vibes The world’s first 3D-printed community is currently being built in rural Mexico. Construction began last week, and two houses have been built so far, but the developers hope to complete 50 new 3D-printed houses in the area by 2020. The village is in a very rural, low-income area of Tabasco, Mexico, where earthquakes and flooding are both extremely common. … [Read more...] about Construction On World’s First 3D-Printed Community Begins In Mexico
Why America’s Founders Didn’t Want a Democracy
By Gary M. Galles When I took history and government in school, many critical issues were misrepresented, given short shrift, or even ignored entirely. And those lacunae undermined my ability to adequately understand many things. Randall Holcombe’s new book, Liberty in Peril: Democracy and Power in American History, fills in some very substantial gaps, particularly with … [Read more...] about Why America’s Founders Didn’t Want a Democracy
The Miracle of the Free Market
By Richard M. Ebeling One of the great fallacies arrogantly believed in by those in political power is the notion that they can know enough to manage and command the lives of everyone in society with better results than if people are left to live their own lives as they freely choose. The fact is, there is far more in the world that successfully manages and “regulates” … [Read more...] about The Miracle of the Free Market
Violence, Homesteading, and the Origins of Private Property
By David Gordon Those who us who accept self-ownership and a Lockean account of property acquisition must face an important objection. In this account, self-owners occupy land and other natural resources, in that way acquiring exclusive rights to the land or resources. Once they done so, they may transfer their titles to the property they have acquired through exchange or … [Read more...] about Violence, Homesteading, and the Origins of Private Property
Sin Taxes & Other Orwellian Methods of Compliance That Feed the Government’s Greed
By John W. Whitehead “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for … [Read more...] about Sin Taxes & Other Orwellian Methods of Compliance That Feed the Government’s Greed
The Link Between Prosperity and Freedom Is Even Stronger than You Think
By Vincent Geloso For some decades now, economists have assembled data measuring “economic freedom” in order to create an index that can be tracked over time. The idea of an index of economic freedom is to measure the extent to which individuals are free to pursue their self-interest and how secure are the fruits of this pursuit. Some 400 articles have been written using … [Read more...] about The Link Between Prosperity and Freedom Is Even Stronger than You Think
6 Things We Learned from Prohibition
By John Phelan Just over 100 years ago (October 28, 1919), the National Prohibition Act became law. Better known as the Volstead Act, it outlawed the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages in the United States. Prohibition failed to end alcohol consumption and was repealed on December 5, 1933. In a book on prohibitions, John Meadowcroft of King’s … [Read more...] about 6 Things We Learned from Prohibition
How to Avoid Civil War: Decentralization, Nullification, Secession
Op-Ed by Ryan McMaken It's becoming more and more apparent that the United States will not be going back to "business as usual" after Donald Trump leaves office, and it is easy to imagine that the anti-Trump parties will use their return to power as an opportunity to settle scores against the hated rubes and "deplorables" who dared attempt to oppose their betters in … [Read more...] about How to Avoid Civil War: Decentralization, Nullification, Secession