Even most critics admit the free market is the greatest wealth-generating system in history, but they say the poor benefit more from interventionist economic systems. In fact, economic liberty elevates the least well-off in more laissez-faire nations to a better position than those living in unfree economies based on such factors as average e, life expectancy, literacy, and other forms of personal liberty. The data bearing out each point are contained in theFraser Institute’s most recent“Economic Freedom of the World”...

The Fraser Institute released its annual “Economic Freedom of the World” report this morning. The free market think tank rates every nation based on its “degree of freedom in five broad areas”: Area 1:Size of Government—As spending and taxation by government, and the size of government-controlled enterprises increase, government decision-making is substituted for individual choice and economic freedom is reduced.Area 2:Legal System and Property Rights—Protection of persons and their rightfully acquired property is a central element of both economic freedom...

Vice President Pence will be giving a speech today emphasizing the importance the Trump administration places on reviewing regulatory policy. Today’s date of October 2 was selected to mark the start of the next fiscal year, when federal agencies will be expected to generate below zero dollars in net new regulatory costs. Here are five facts you should know about federal regulations: 1.Regulations are rules that have the force of law and that are issued by various federal government departments...

Voters who took part in yesterday’s national 1-0 referendum overwhelmingly supported Catalonia’s independence from Spain, and images of the Spanish National Police brutally suppressing the election have flooded the international media. But any honest accounting of the 1-0 referendum requires a deeper nuance that leaves no party looking heroic. The 1-0 referendum On October 1, Catalonia held an election asking voters,“Do youwantCatalonia to e an independent state in theform of a republic?” Catalonia, which has seen its autonomy wax and...

Note: This is post #51 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Is price discrimination bad for society? How does it affect output, and what is its effect on social welfare? If price discrimination increases output, it is likely beneficial for society. If output isn’t increased, social welfare is reduced. In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Tyler Cowen consider the effect of price discrimination. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend watching...

Is there a connection between economics and belief? In a recent Karam Forum lecture for the Oikonomia Network, theologian Jay Moon uses a Perplexus ball to explain the overlapping influence and impact of distinct cultural spheres — what anthropologists call the “functional integration of culture.” According to anthropologist Darrell Whiteman, every culture can be understood as having three interconnecting sectors: (1) an economics and technology sector, (2) a social relationships sector, and (3) an ideology and belief sector. “These sectors...

In the public imagination, Lord Acton is often restricted to his ubiquitous aphorism about power and corruption. This is a pity, as the nineteenth century essayist, historian, and parliamentarian held wide-ranging views about liberty as well-developed as they were penetrating. Eugenio Lopes explores these views, noting the interrelationship between power and conscience in Lord Acton’s writings. For Acton, “Freedom depends on a well-formed conscience,” Lopes writes. Absolutist political forces continually shape and bend public morality to their own, corrupt vision...

Car insurance and life insurance are rather simple. So why is health insurance plicated? And why can’t it be more like other forms of insurance? Lanhee Chen, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, explains what make health insurance so different—and plex. ...

As Target races against Walmart to voluntarily raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour, we’re reminded that upward fluctuations in the price of low-skilled labor are more than possible without the blunt interference of government control (and its deleterious side effects). Even still, critics will predictably proclaim that such changes are far too little, too late, arguing that the government plays a valuable role in accelerating these developments when employers fall short. Or, as one of economist Don Boudreaux’s...

Can’t make to Grand Rapids for Mollie Hemingway’s talk today on the media? No problem. We’re streaming it online live starting around noon. The talk will also be shown live on Acton’s Facebook page. More on the event and the speaker: Trust in media institutions is at a historic low. Much of the country is overtly hostile to “fake news.” The media is desperate to recover its authority, even as it has e more biased, less substantive, and less civil...