Value and Exchange

No amount of fantasizing can make fundamental economic realities go away, no matter how much we put our faith in central banks, government regulation, or technologies of the future.

Anti-capitalists often claim that employment is like slavery. But unlike slavery, employment in the market is voluntary, non-coercive, and makes the employee better off than he would have been without it. Employees merely choose an employer that provides the best alternative to non-employment.

Millions of pop culture consumers have been affected by the "post scarcity" world portrayed in Star Trek. But even in Star Trek, the claims of having overcome scarcity are belied by the fact that human lives, planets, starships, and time all remain scarce.

Robert Shiller, in a new screed against capitalism in The New York Times, asserts that government regulation makes countries rich. He then bolsters this argument by making stuff up.

International trade grasped headlines with Monday’s announcement that twelve governments have agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. While we should expect to see this celebrated in the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, it is unfortunate even libertarian organizations are praising the agreement.

Statistically, alcohol abuse causes far more death, violence, injury, and disease than guns do. And yet, further limiting access to alcohol is off the table while gun restrictions are fair game. In the gun debate, the double standards are plentiful.

How should we define equality? The state won't define it, and a definition doesn't really matter because "equality" isn't really about helping anyone but the state and its agents. It's about some people exercising power over other people.

The Pope is touring North America this week, promoting a variety of interventionist “solutions” to global warming, poverty, and more. But a far more powerful religious figure, Janet Yellen, continues to pull the levers of the global financial system.

Eager to focus on what they're best at, college athletes often gravitate toward the easiest majors and classes. But that doesn't sit well with some college administrators who haven't made peace with the realities behind the division of labor.

In spite of past assurances to the contrary, our central planners at the Federal Reserve emerged this week to announce that their zero-interest-rate policy will continue. Is the world coming to realize that the emperors have no clothes?