Economic Philosophy

BY LAWRENCE W. REED Whether conjured up by something I ate before bedtime, or by the cheesy horror flick I watched a few nights before,...

In 1776, the same year the Declaration of Independence appeared in America, Pelatiah Webster started publishing a series of essays on economic matters BY LAWRENCE...

BY RICHARD M. EBELING Those who speak about being on the “right side of history” have, knowingly or not, adopted a central element in Karl...

BY MARK W. HENDRICKSON Last month, retired Rep. John Linder wrote a clear-headed article about the benefits of trade. A week-and-a-half later, FedEx founder and CEO, Frederick...

LAWRENCE W. REED, THE FREEMAN The good news is that more millennials are skeptical of economic intervention than trust the government to improve anything. The...

BY MARK HENDRICKSON I abhor the name calling that degrades our political discourse, especially in election years; hence, the question mark in the title. I...

BY MARK HENDRICKSON It’s a familiar political scenario: Behind the fig leaf of compassion and fairness, progressives and the union-dominated Democratic Party want the federal...

DANIEL L. THORNTON, CATO INSTITUTE In my recent Cato Institute policy analysis, “Requiem for QE,” I analyze the transcripts of the 2008 and 2009 Federal...

BY MARK HENDRICKSON “Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception,” is a trivial work from two bright, kindly, likable scholars, Nobel Prize-winning economists,...

BY MARK HENDRICKSON Life in the 16th century was bleak. Unless you were lucky enough to have been born into the sliver of the population...

An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith, 1776 2013 - 2015 Internet Edition (with occasional explanatory notes) by...

Why the 'Population Bomb' is a Dud ROBERT P. MURPHY, THE FREEMAN Asked whether or not the growing world population will be a major problem, 59%...

BY LEONARD E. READ, THE FREEMAN Originally published by The Freeman: Ideas On Liberty, January 1965 My purpose in this essay is to throw some light...

And It's All Capitalism's Doing MAX BORDERS, THE FREEMAN When Joe Average steps out of his car after completing his shift for Lyft, he does so...

CHRIS EDWARDS, CATO INSTITUTE Committee on the Budget United States House of Representatives Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify....

Economic Intervention Punishes Those Who Help Most ROBERT P. MURPHY, THE FREEMAN I saw the mom and her two little kids camped out in the shopping...

In This Case, Turnabout Is Fair Play SANDY IKEDA, THE FREEMAN Tell someone on the left that crony capitalism is not the same as the free...

JAMES A. DORN, THE FREEMAN The publication of Thomas Piketty’s bestseller Capital in the Twenty-First Century has led to widespread attention on the rising gap...

STEVEN HORWITZ, THE FREEMAN " planning does not accidentally deteriorate into the militarization of the economy; it is the militarization of the economy.… When the...

LIBERTY LETTERS WITH STEVE FARRELL Sometimes secularism sounds legitimate. One of the more thoughtful arguments used by proponents of a secular state, or of a state...

LIBERTY LETTERS WITH STEVE FARRELL Sometimes secularism sounds legitimate. One of the more thoughtful arguments used by proponents of a secular state, or of a state...

Responding to Nobel Economist Joseph Stilitz's Yahoo.com Interview BY MARK W. HENDRICKSON In an interview posted on Yahoo.com (April 23), Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz spoke...

BY MARK W. HENDRICKSON When even historically progressive Wisconsin adopts a right to work law—making employee payments to a union voluntary instead of mandatory—it’s a...

BY MARK W. HENDRICKSON When even historically progressive Wisconsin adopts a right to work law—making employee payments to a union voluntary instead of mandatory—it’s a...

LAWRENCE W. REED, THE FREEMAN Clichés of Progressivism, Part 16 Progressives have a problem with ownership, especially when it’s yours. The very notion seems to conjure...

BY MARK W. HENDRICKSON Quite predictably, my article last week about Wisconsin adopting a right to work law elicited comments pro and con. I didn’t...

BY MARK W. HENDRICKSON Quite predictably, my article last week about Wisconsin adopting a right to work law elicited comments pro and con. I didn’t...

LAWRENCE W. REED, THE FREEMAN April 25, 2015, marks a century since John James Cowperthwaite entered the world. It’s a birthdate that deserves celebration everywhere. I...

FREE ENTERPRISE ZONE: FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES 1776 The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and security...

MARK W. HENDRICKSON When even historically progressive Wisconsin adopts a right to work law—making employee payments to a union voluntary instead of mandatory—it’s a sign...