Daily Articles

Book Review: Determinants of Economic Growth

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1997

Determinants of Economic Growth: A Cross-Country Empirical Study by Robert J. Barro (Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press, 1997); 145 pages; $22.50. The London School of Economics regularly hosts a Lionel Robbins lecture series. Lord Robbins, who in the 1930s was a vigorous and articulate proponent of Austrian economics, was a master in the history of economic ideas. In 1952, he published ...

New Laws Aren’t Needed for the Paparazzi

by Sheldon Richman September 2, 1997

Tragedy often spawns new, ill-conceived laws. A good rule of thumb would be to avoid new legislation that is inspired by incidents involving the death or injury of beloved people. Despite good intentions, such laws will turn out to be mistakes. Legislate in haste, repent is leisure. The death of Princess Diana quickly prompted calls ...

Compromise and Concealment-The Road to Defeat, Part 1

by Jacob G. Hornberger September 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 Twenty years ago, I was rummaging through the public library in my hometown of Laredo, Texas, and I came across four books entitled Essays on Liberty that had been published many years before by The Foundation for Economic ...

Monetary Central Planning and the State, Part 9: The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | ...

Mandatory Volunteerism: Were Orwell Alive, He’d Die of Laughter

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1997

President Clinton has hitched his wagon to one of the most abominable ideas to come down the pike in some time: community service as part of the school curriculum. Is there a single proposal packed with more fallacies? I doubt it. Where to begin? In getting ready for ...

Good Samaritan Laws Are a Bad Idea

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1997

Tragedy often spawns new, ill-conceived laws. A good rule of thumb would be to avoid new legislation that is inspired by incidents involving the death or injury of beloved people. Despite good intentions, such laws will turn out to be mistakes. Legislate in haste, repent in leisure. The death of Princess Diana quickly prompted calls ...

The Republican Tax Fraud

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1997

The Republican Party holds itself out as the anti-tax party. If nothing else, the GOP believes that calling for tax cuts is the sure path to electoral success. But as W. S. Gilbert wrote, things are seldom what they seem. The Republican record on taxes is nothing to ...

Sovietizing American Virtue

by James Bovard September 1, 1997

"The higher interest involved in the life of the whole must set the limits and lay down the duties of the individual," according to Adolf Hitler. Hitler's views are generally unpopular in the United States. However, some of his moral dogmas may be staging a comeback. At the Volunteer Summit in ...

Do We Need the Government’s Permission for Everything?

by Sheldon Richman September 1, 1997

The other day I caught the television news report about America Online's plan to buy out its largest rival, CompuServe. At the end of the report the broadcaster said that "the government will have to approve the deal." It got me thinking: does the government have to approve everything we do? President Clinton says we've left the era of big ...

Service to Whom? Part 1

by Doug Bandow September 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 Service has a long and venerable history in the United States. It has perhaps become a cliché, but Americans' generosity and penchant to organize to meet community needs were both noted by Alexis de Tocqueville in his classic, Democracy in America. And so it continues today. Three-quarters of American households give to charity. Some ...

Book Review: How Nations Grow Rich

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1997

How Nations Grow Rich: The Case for Free Trade by Melvyn Krauss (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); 140 pages; $22.50. One of the frustrations in the study of economics is the discovery of how frequently the same fallacious ideas keep reappearing. Since the time of David Hume and Adam Smith, economists have demonstrated over and over again the mutual ...

Heaven’s Gate and the Cult of the Socialistic Welfare State, Part 2

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 1, 1997

Part 1 | Part 2 One of the primary characteristics of cults is the denial of reality. The ultimate example of this occurred in the Heaven's Gate cult: those cult members did not commit suicide; instead, they embarked on an exciting, intergalactic space adventure. In principle, denial of reality is no different for members in the cult of the socialistic ...