Interventionism

New York Governor George Pataki has abandoned his original platform for the same reason that Republicans usually sell out: he has chosen staying in power over cutting government.

If power-hungry government officials and misanthropic environmentalists would get out of the way, California could avoid energy shortages this summer. George Reisman explains. 

Paul Krugman is at it again, this time calling for price caps in California as a way of solving the energy problem. How can an economist think such things?

The teachings of Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises offer the answer to those who say we should dismantle civilization to meet the supposed needs of nature. A very powerful speech by George Reisman.

There's a massive shortage of available kidneys for transplant. The solution is the free market, but the objections are mainly moral. Ninos Malek explains.

Even before the recent rate cuts, Greenspan had opened the monetary spigots, in a duplication of the policy error that led to the artificial boom. William Anderson explains.

One of the modern hero-myths the State has cultivated about itself is that government vaccination programs drastically reduced some common communicable diseases in the twentieth century. For decades, the government has required certain vaccinations for entry into schools, and most parents have passively submitted to the inoculation of their children. Now, in response to increasing evidence that vaccines may not be the boon to our health that has been supposed, opposition to mandatory vaccination programs is building.

The state of California has experienced a meltdown in its electric power system. For months, the system has repeatedly run at or near the overload point, necessitating brownouts and even rolling blackouts. Incredibly, the fiasco has been blamed on deregulation and the free market.

Why do economists disagree on how to handle downturns? Chris Westley explains that some believe the market works and others do not.

Traffic is a powerful and persuasive argument against the domestic and international drug war. Review and critique by Dale Steinreich.