Oxfam, the leftwing NGO devoted to poverty relief has released a new report blaming poverty in wealth inequality. In other words, its central claim is that the existence of very wealthy people creates poverty. 

When I visited Shanghai in December 2016, I was interviewed by Tyler Xiong at Jifeng Bookstore about the forthcoming Chinese edition of Hayek’s The Fortunes of Liberalism, and about the prospects for liberty in China and around the world. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

Earlier this week, the Oxfam organization published a “report” about global inequality. It’s not really a report, since most of it consists of babble-economics with little empirical foundation, and the hard data that it includes comes from an external source: the Credit Suisse Report.

Editor’s Note: For years, Joseph Salerno’s  important essay “Ludwig von Mises As a Social Rationalist” was available only in old PDF versions. Now, it is available in an HTML version that is easier to read and use for research purposes.

The essay presents a lengthy and enlightening analysis of Ludwig von Mises’s social theory and his views on the origins of human society. Salerno writes:

Healthcare reform is back in the news as the Republican House and Senate have begun the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act. While Republicans have been able to consistently communicate the obvious problems with Obamacare, few have been able to articulate ways in which to improve what was already a broken healthcare system.

Fans have been wondering for years if Valve will ever produce a new entry in the enormously successful Half-Life franchise. Questions about the existence of a new Half-Life project have even become something of a joke in the game industry. Yet as the years drag on, the possibility of a sequel grows less and less likely. But now, for the first time, we might actually know why, and it turns out, the culprit is poor economic organization.

Finland has announced that it is conducting a social policy “experiment” which deserves closer examination. Through 2017 and 2018, Finland will provide a guaranteed basic income of 560 euros to 2,000 randomly selected welfare recipients.