Economics

Give America a Raise?

by Sheldon Richman February 5, 2014

President Obama said something especially perplexing when he implored Congress during his State of the Union address to “Give America a raise.” Since when does Congress have the power to do that? We live in a nominally private-enterprise economy, so it should strike the ear as odd to hear Obama acknowledge that it’s not a private-enterprise economy at all, ...

Let’s Make 2014 the Year of Freedom for Low-Wage Workers

by Sheldon Richman January 2, 2014

The federal budget deficit was big in 2013, but not as big as the freedom deficit. We should all resolve to make 2014 the year that we secure our freedom from government, the biggest threat we face. We can start with freedom for low-wage workers. Hundreds of occupations are closed shut unless one has a license. To get the license, one ...

TGIF: The Pope Dabbles in Economics

by Sheldon Richman December 20, 2013

Pope Francis wrote in his recent apostolic exhortation, “Just as the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’ sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality.” He’s right — but not in the way he intends. Before I elaborate, ...

Mandela Wasn’t Radical Enough

by Sheldon Richman December 11, 2013

I suppose we will forever be subjected to incomplete accounts of the life of Nelson Mandela and the evil he struggled against. Both the Right and the Left (as conventionally defined in America) are too busy pushing agendas to provide the full story. On the establishment Right (with some honorable exceptions) apartheid was deemed unimportant in the context of the ...

The Calling: Why I Defend Walmart

by Steven Horwitz December 5, 2013

In the aftermath of Black Friday (or now Thursday, I guess), much will be written about Walmart.  It remains the favorite whipping boy of many on the left, not to mention their enablers in what Deirdre McCloskey calls “the Clerisy,” or what Hayek called “the second-hand dealers in ideas.”  More broadly, even those without strong left-leaning opinions often have ...

The Libertarian Angle: Minimum Wage and China

by Future of Freedom Foundation December 2, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman tackle the minimum wage and relations with China. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

FFF Economic Liberty Lecture Series: Tyler Cowen – “Is Average Over in an Age of Great Stagnation?”

by Tyler Cowen November 19, 2013

On November 14, 2013 Tyler Cowen gave the following speech as part of the Economic Liberty Lecture Series which is co-sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation and the George Mason Economics Society. Mr. Cowen’s talk is entitled “Is Average Over in an Age of Great Stagnation?” Tyler Cowen has a Ph.D in economics from Harvard ...

Worshiping a False Idol: Why Money Is No God

by Dave Hebert November 12, 2013

A few weeks ago I was out to lunch with a group of friends when the subject of money came up. One person at the table said that we should replace the phrase “In God We Trust” on currency with “This Is Your God.” To my surprise, there was very little pushback to that and even a few people ...

The Business Cycle Explained

by George Leef November 1, 2013

It Didn’t Have to Be This Way: Why Boom and Bust Is Unnecessary — and How the Austrian School of Economics Breaks the Cycle by Harry C. Veryser (Intercollegiate Studies Institute 2012), 318 pages. This is one instance where a book’s subtitle tells the reader much more about its content than the title does. You know at once that ...

The Myth of Economics (video)

by Edward H. Crane October 28, 2013

On October 16, 2013 Edward H. Crane gave the following speech as part of the Economic Liberty Lecture Series which is co-sponsored by The Future of Freedom Foundation and the George Mason Economics Society. Mr. Crane's talk is entitled "The Myth of Economics:  They Changed Global Warming to Climate Change, Why not Economics to ...

Economic Liberty Lecture Series: Edward H. Crane

by Future of Freedom Foundation October 23, 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013 Speaker: Edward H. CraneGeorge Mason University 5:30 PM - 7:30 AM ECONOMIC LIBERTY LECTURE SERIES Dinner, Lecture, and Social Hour PLACE: George Mason University – Johnson Center 333 TIME: 5:30 pm – Pizza 6:00 pm – Talk with Q&A 8:00 pm – Social hour at Brion’s Grille SPEAKER: Ed Crane is the founder and president emeritus of the Cato Institute. Under his leadership, the Cato ...

TGIF: The Housing-Financial Meltdown Revisited

by Sheldon Richman October 11, 2013

Five years after the housing and financial meltdown, self-styled progressives are still peddling their pseudoexplanation: that it was largely the fault of the 1999 repeal of a provision of the New Deal–era Glass-Steagall Act, which mandated the separation of commercial and investment banking. This tale is favored by Sen. Elizabeth Warren and others of her ilk, who hold the ...