Free Markets

We speak of the “economy” as though it produces goods. Yet, the term really is a fiction, as purposeful individuals working in cooperation with each other are the real producers.

Arbitrary and undefined terms like “fair wage” and “living wage” fundamentally misunderstand the nature of work how wages are determined.

HIPAA was enacted in 1996 to protect the privacy of patient health information. In practice, HIPAA’s stringent requirements may harm patients, create a chilling effect on medical researchers and healthcare providers, and significantly increase medical costs.

Nobel-winning economist Claudia Goldin claims that WNBA players are vastly “underpaid” relative to their male counterparts in the NBA. Economic analysis, however, tells us a different story.

Myanmar has been a textbook case of the tragedies of socialism. While people are familiar with Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who tried to lead the nation to democracy and a market economy, the nation is better known for military dictatorship and political and economic repression.

On your computer monitor, your table lamp, or the label on your hair dryer, you will see the symbol "UL" with a circle around it. It stands for Underwriters Laboratories, a firm headquartered in Northbrook, Ill., and an unsung hero of the market economy. 

Was Paul Heyne an ethicist who thought like an economist or was he instead an economist who thought like an ethicist? It was a bit of both. Heyne‘s popular text, The Economic Way of Thinking, educated a lot of students about how economics really works.

Frederic Bastiat understood better than most how free markets and market prices actually promote social harmony. And unlike most, he understood why Paris, which had little agricultural land, had plenty of food for its inhabitants.

While artificial intelligence is often discussed in terms of automation or productivity, its potential as a creative and intellectual partner is just beginning to be recognized.

Herbert Spencer is best known for the term, “Social Darwinism,” but his writings on free markets and law remain brilliantly relevant today. While not included in the Pantheon of Austrian economists, nonetheless his work influenced Austrian scholars.