According to the 2014 Heritage index, the six most economically free nations are Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Switzerland, New Zealand, and Canada. Question: Is it a coincidence that five of the six are former British colonies? Follow-up questions: * If not a coincidence, what did the British do in their colonies to enable this legacy […]
Question about economic freedom and British history Read More »
Two data points and a question: 1. This graph showing the dramatic 80% reduction in the world poverty rate over the last 40 years: 2. This Gapminder survey showing that 95% of Americans asked believe that poverty rates have stayed the same or increased: The question: What explains the great discrepancy between reality and belief?
Poverty reduction and public awareness Read More »
The documentary airs in January on PBS stations nationwide. Here are the press releases from Joshua Hall’s West Virginia University and Robert Lawson’s Southern Methodist University. Professor Lawson spoke at Rockford University on economic freedom, and Professor Hall spoke here on education reform. Both talks were sponsored by the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship.
PBS documentary on economic freedom: Gwartney, Hall, Lawson Read More »
For my “13 Arguments for Liberal Capitalism in 13 Minutes (more or less)”, here are direct links for each individual argument: 1. Liberal capitalism increases freedom. 2. People work harder in liberal capitalist systems. 3. People work smarter under liberal capitalism. 4. Liberalism increases individuality and creativity. 5. Liberal capitalism increases the average standard of
Links for “13 arguments for liberal capitalism in 13 minutes” Read More »
What if we applied the many arguments for economic controls to sex? An important announcement: From the Office of the Reproducer-General [mp3] or [YouTube]. The original post: “From the Office of the Reproducer-General” [or as pdf].
From the Office of the Reproducer-General (audio version) Read More »
Here’s a print version [pdf] of my post on “’Third Way’ politics and its fruits” from earlier this year. Thanks to Chris Vaughan for his graphics work. The opening: “In 1998, President Bill Clinton announced: ‘We have moved past the sterile debate between those who say Government is the problem and those who say Government
“Third Way” Politics and Its Fruits — reprint version Read More »
I enjoyed this EconTalk podcast with Michael Clemens of the Center for Global Development. Host Russ Roberts talked with Clemens about two of Clemens’s publications on foreign aid and migration.[1] A few interesting extracts with policy implications. Roberts and Clemens start with the big question of how to solve the problem of poverty. One approach
Clemens on migration, poverty, and domestic wages Read More »
In a recent Kaizen interview, Argentine entrepreneur Enrique Duhau discussed some of the challenges of doing business in a country with a politicized economy. I was reminded of Campante and Glaeser’s comparative study of Buenos Aires and Chicago, two cities that were very similar in the nineteenth century. They were similar in population size, with
Comparing Buenos Aires and Chicago — politics and economics Read More »