All Posts Tagged With: "prosperity"

Basis of Liberty

In one of his fables Aesop said: “A horse and a stag,
feeding together in a rich meadow, began fighting
over which should have the best grass.The stag with
his sharp horns got the better of the horse. So the horse
asked the help of man. And man agreed, but suggested
that his help might be more effective if he were permitted
to ride the horse and guide him as he thought best.
So the horse permitted man to put a saddle on his back
and a bridle on his head.Thus they drove the stag from
the meadow. But when the horse asked man to remove
the bridle and saddle and set him free, man answered, ‘I
never before knew what a useful drudge you are. And
now that I have found what you are good for, you may
rest assured that I will keep you to it.’”

1Nov2005 | | 0 comments | Continued

When Safety Nets Fail

An elderly woman sat on the stone steps of the St.
Alexander Nevsky Cathedral clutching a small
handful of wildflowers picked from a field
somewhere. She offered them up to any passerby, hoping
to earn just a few cents for them.The air in Sofia was
frigid, but at least the rain had finally stopped. I wondered
if she had sat there in the rain the day before. I suspected
she was there every day.

1Oct2005 | | 3 comments | Continued

Intervention Explains Economic Success?

On the first day of an introductory statistics class a student is likely to learn the maxim “correlation isn’t causation.” Simply put, the correlation (a statistical relationship) between two variables doesn’t mean that one caused the other. That the sun rises when roosters crow does not mean that roosters cause the sun to rise. To [...]

1Jun2005 | | 5 comments | Continued

Economic Freedom: The Path to Development

Economic development has historically been exceptional rather than typical. As Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto has observed in The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else, capitalism has been successful mainly in the West. Consequently, there are tremendous income disparities around the world. In 2000, real income per person [...]

1Apr2005 | | 0 comments | Continued

Free Trade and the Climb Out of Poverty

Over the thousands of years of human history, poverty and early death have been the norm, with comfort and longevity the exceptions. The improvements in the human condition, at least on average, seen over the course of the twentieth century dwarf the improvements of the previous centuries combined. By virtually any measure one can imagine, [...]

1Mar2005 | | 1 comment | Continued

Drops and Splashes

My wife, Karol, and I recently painted some rooms of our home. When I bought the paint at Home Depot, the helpful saleswoman showed me a new product: a plastic lid that slips on a gallon-sized paint can more easily than, but just as snugly as, the original metal lid. And it’s much easier to [...]

1Feb2005 | | 0 comments | Continued

Where in the World Can You Find Economic Freedom?

Late 2003 saw the release of the most recent editions of two publications that rank the nations of the world according to their degrees of economic freedom. The Fraser Institute, located in British Columbia, put out the eighth edition of its Economic Freedom of the World and the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal published [...]

1Sep2004 | | 0 comments | Continued

Oblivious to the Obvious

“Ironically, the birth of a child is registered as a reduction in national income per head, while the birth of a farm animal shows up as an improvement.” -Peter Bauer (1991) Each passing year makes me more and more aware of human beings’ astounding capacity for overlooking the obvious. I have in mind here not [...]

1Nov2003 | | 1 comment | Continued

Capital Letters

Free Martha? To the Editor: I was surprised to read January’s “Perspective” on Martha Stewart. If she lied when she said “she had a standing order to sell the stock if the price went below $60.00,” and that statement was made in the context of a criminal investigation, she could be guilty of obstruction of [...]

1Apr2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

Book Review: In Defense of Global Capitalism, by Johan Norberg

In Defense of Global Capitalism by Johan Norberg English translation by Roger Tanner. Timbro • 2001 • 291 pages • $11.95 paperback Reviewed by Donald J. Boudreaux In Defense of Global Capitalism fully accomplishes the goal revealed by its title. Here, Swedish historian and political writer Johan Norberg adeptly explains why free trade and free [...]

17Mar2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

Unsustainable Development

Sound economic thinking lies in accounting for the secondary results of private and government actions.1 This observation is not limited to economics. It can be applied to all areas of human study, including political philosophy. Once learned, that lesson can prevent a great deal of human hardship. Take, for instance, a concept promoted by left-wing [...]

1Mar2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

Seeing the World Plain

Doug Bandow, a nationally syndicated columnist, is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the author and editor of several books. Washington, D.C., is filled with professions of good intentions by politicians and bureaucrats as they steadily strip away Americans’ liberty and money. The political class uses even the most serious social problem to [...]

1Feb2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

Technology in Perspective

What role does technology play in creating prosperity? Recently, I was involved in a heated e-mail debate on this question. Although technology is unquestionably important, it is not the key to prosperity. Much more fundamental and vital is the institution of private property fashioned and enforced by a genuine rule of law. Those who disagree [...]

1Jan2003 | | 0 comments | Continued

The Contradictions of Capitalism

We advocates of individual rights and free markets can’t win the intellectual debate with the ideological left. That’s because there is no intellectual debate with the left. There can’t be a debate since the opponents of capitalism are simply not open to rational discussion. They know that capitalism is inherently evil, and no argument, no [...]

1Aug2002 | | 0 comments | Continued

Immigration: An Abolitionist’s Cause

One of the most frequent arguments used against opening borders is that it would add to the welfare burden of the state and that innocent taxpayers will be compelled to pay for slothful immigrants. Slothful immigrants? Students in my international trade and finance classes always get a good laugh at the notion of “slothful immigrants.” [...]

1Jan2002 | | 3 comments | Continued

A Race to the Bottom

Barry Loberfeld is a freelance writer. In a letter dated December 2000 and addressed, “Dear Friend of US/LEAP,” Stephen Coats, executive director of the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, spoke of various purported “victories and losses in the struggle for worker justice in the global economy.” Among the “losses” was what he called the [...]

1Jul2001 | | 0 comments | Continued

Prosperity Is Hazardous to Our Health and Wealth?

The left long ago abandoned the argument that socialism would produce greater prosperity than capitalism (although Paul Samuelson still clung to this belief as late as 1988) and now devotes most of its energy to fabricating myriad “problems” with capitalist prosperity. A particularly shallow example of this argument was recently on display in a February [...]

1Jun2001 | | 1 comment | Continued
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