Bimetallic Nightmare
Congress decreed that gold and silver dollars should be interchangeable and put upon the Treasury a mandate to keep them equal in value. How? By what magic? Why, by the magic of a phrase.
Police Forces
[This article is excerpted from Society Without Coercion.]
Hushing Up Conspiracy Theories
It’s good that censorship is difficult. If it weren’t, it might be resorted to more frequently by men who would violate natural rights when such an important issue as public skepticism about the government is at stake.
The State Grants No Quarter to Freedom
“To the August Roman Hercules”
To promote his own divinity, the Roman emperor Commodus issued coins with his image in the lion-skin headdress of Hercules on one side, and the bow, club, and quiver of Hercules on the reverse.
The Not So Wild, Wild West
The growth of government during this century has attracted the attention of many scholars interested in explaining that growth and in proposing ways to limit it. As a result of this attention, the public-choice literature has experienced an upsurge in the interest in anarchy and its implications for social organization.
Economics of Adoption: A Libertarian Approach
In the libertarian market, a free trade in consenting orphans must be allowed to occur. Whether or not such trade will in reality take place depends on the unique circumstances of demand at different times and places.
The Defense of Orphans: A Libertarian Approach
Private firms and networks offering the defense of children would, if allowed by state authorities, immediately spring up all around Haiti, simply because the general community demands their defense.
The Ethics of Adoption in Haiti: A Libertarian Approach
Whether Haitian children choose to survive on their own, find refuge in an orphanage, or seek adoption from a foreign family, they must be treated as sovereign individuals without forceful interference by third parties.
The Economist as Detective: Reflections on Gary Becker’s Nobel Prize
Just as the fictional victims in Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels trembled when Professor Moriarty was about town, almost no scholar is safe while Gary Becker’s word processor is turned on.
This Bread Is Mine
The tool owner wants to be paid for his goods and services, just as the shopkeeper wishes to be paid for his goods and the worker wishes to be paid for his labor. If you will not pay for the goods, you are not entitled to them.
