The seventeenth President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, is perhaps an unlikely figure which proponents of free markets would be inclined to consider. Upon assuming the role of Chief Executive after Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson inherited the crony economic arrangements which had developed during the Civil War period, and which would characterize much of the following Gilded Age.

Abstract

This essay examines the enduring relevance of Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson in analyzing contemporary economic and social issues. It first applies Hazlitt’s lesson to three prominent contemporary issues: protectionism, technophobia, and the economic fallacies surrounding war. The essay then shifts focus to the Danish welfare state (velfærdsstat), often celebrated as a paragon of the Nordic model of social democracy.

Abstract

This essay analyzes Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson and centers on two themes. First, Hazlitt’s “One lesson” provides a thorough application of counterfactual analysis as developed by Hülsmann (2003, 57-102) to various economic matters. In relating the factual to its counterfactual alternatives, Hazlitt points to those effects of an event that are not seen since they remain unrealized. He applies these principles particularly to government policies, highlighting the opportunity costs of interventionism and government spending.

Abstract

This paper analyzes the economic reforms in Argentina under President Javier Milei, drawing comparisons with Chile’s free-market transformations of the 1970s and 1980s implemented by the Chicago Boys. Using Hazlitt’s principle of evaluating long-term and widespread consequences, the analysis integrates Austrian economics concepts: time-preference rates (Hoppe), the role of institutions (Hayek), and capital structure (Mises).

Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama—who formerly made his living as a college football coach—has stepped into the current controversy over President Donald Trump’s tariffs by making a training analogy:

No pain, no gain. That’s what we used to tell our football players. There’s gonna be some pain with tariffs... Democrats get out of the way. Shut up.

He added:

The demonetisation of gold is easy enough. The difficult thing is to find something to take its place.—Charles Rist (1938)

During Trump 1.0, working for a home builder, I learned that wholesalers raise the price of lumber at the first mention of tariffs. Trump 2.0’s schizophrenic tariff policies may seem to have caused no harm yet, however, builders are no doubt already feeling the pinch.