Governments lie about the inflation rate and benefits from it, so, it is no surprise when they talk against deflation (for the purpose of this article, assume inflation as a general increase in prices and deflation as the opposite), which would be good for consumers and the economy, but bad for the government.
Economists teach that institutions determine long-term economic growth—but are some institutions more crucial than others? The legendary Douglas North (1989) popularized the idea that the Glorious Revolution in England culminated in the imposition of institutional constraints on the monarchy. North argued that such an arrangement enabled growth by restricting the authority of political actors to extract resources.
“To mount an effective response to the reigning egalitarianism of our age, therefore, it is necessary but scarcely sufficient to demonstrate the absurdity, the anti-scientific nature, the self-contradictory nature, of the egalitarian doctrine, as well as the disastrous consequences of the egalitarian program. All this is well and good. But it misses the essential nature of, as well as the most effective rebuttal to, the egalitarian program: to expose it as a mask for the drive to power of the now ruling left-liberal intellectual and media elites.
The philosopher Hilary Putnam was not a friend of the free market—far from it. At one time he supported the Progressive Labor Party, a Communist faction that admired Mao’s red Chinese tyranny, and though he abandoned that extreme position, he remained a socialist. He thought that an obvious refutation of the libertarianism then professed by his Harvard faculty colleague Robert Nozick was that it rejected public education.
The lack of self-awareness among the many American officials who are striking a moralistic pose in opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine is striking.
Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton recently concluded their tour of the Caribbean to celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee. Commentators contend that the trip was orchestrated to highlight the relevance of the monarchy in a region where the demand for Republican status is escalating. Though the visit was slated to be a cordial event William and Kate were greeted with hostility by Jamaican politicians and protesters who denounced Britain’s involvement in the slave trade and colonialism.
In the debate on economic growth people usually confuse education with human capital - but there is a stark difference because the latter refers to know-how rather than mere theoretical knowledge. Mastering content suggests that one is educated, whereas human capital indicates the application of theory. A graduate with an engineering degree is educated, however he demonstrates human capital when he files for a patent or starts a business.
The German Political Scientist Jürgen W. Falter analyzed by far the largest and most comprehensive sample from the two central NSDAP membership card indexes. As Falter demonstrates, the proportion of blue-collar workers in the NSDAP was always far higher than has been assumed by earlier historical researchers. Similar to the party’s voters, roughly 40 percent of the NSDAP’s members were working class.
“Most citizens are not doing us any favor by voting. Asking everyone to vote is like asking everyone to litter.”
—Jason Brennan, Against Democracy
No, the title is not a typo: I mean the opposite of the quip many people use after elections: “If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain.”
