“But I don’t want to be moral!” That’s what a CEO spontaneously exclaimed when he was given my book, How to Be Profitable and Moral. Why did he say that, and did he really mean it?
MARKETS
Capitalist Profits Do Not Cause Inflation
The idea that hundreds of thousands of businesses have colluded to raise prices to boost their profit margins and in so doing, engineered the inflation that continues to afflict Americans — is easily disproven.
Dollar Stores are a Beautiful Thing
Carlson is entitled to his view of dollar stores as being ugly, but for individuals and families who appreciate the offerings, services, and availability of a discount retailer in their neighborhood, it is surely a beautiful thing.
The Beginnings of a Reborn Austrian School of Economics
Fifty years ago, on October 10, 1973, one of the leading members of the Austrian School of Economics, Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973), passed away at the age of 92.
The Multifront Attack on Business Hero Elon Musk
The attacks on Elon Musk seem like something straight out of an Ayn Rand novel. The successful and innovative entrepreneur is attacked on all sides by institutions and people who live off the system rather than innovate around and beyond it.
Misunderstanding the Meaning of a “Monopoly”
As long as government secures and protects private property rights, enforces all contracts entered into voluntarily and through mutual agreement, and assures law and order under an impartial rule of law, “monopoly” as an economic or social problem is virtually non-existent. But introduce government intervention into the market system, and monopoly invariably becomes a social harm and an economic problem.
What if the First Great Age of Globalization Began 100 Years Earlier?
The first age of globalization could have started much earlier had it not been for trade policies. How much earlier? At least a century, which means somewhere in the mid-18th century.
Argentina’s Rampant Inflation, Explained in One Chart
Whichever definition one prefers to use — an expansion of the money supply which leads to price increases, or a broad and sustained increase in consumer prices — inflation is caused by the governments and central banks who control the money supply.
Henry Hazlitt on Liberty: 21 Choice Quotes
Hazlitt’s most important contribution was his consistent defense of the central importance of liberty in American life, even though it lost him more than one job. At a time when real commitment to liberty is scarce, Americans need to remember his wisdom.
Free Market Solutions to the Housing Crisis
The political, economic, and moral case for a free market in housing.
Junk Insurance
Obamacare plans are often “junkier” than available short-term plans for a large number of Americans in a large number of circumstances.
Celebrate Amazon, Not Persecute It
Justice demands that we should celebrate Amazon rather than persecute it.
Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan Has It Out for Amazon
Antitrust laws, as being applied by Lina Khan, are truly anti-progress.
The DOJ’s Coercive Case against Google
One of the DOJ’s main criticisms is how Google established itself early on as the default search engine for Apple and Android products, yet doing so was simply shrewd business strategy. Anyone with the opportunity to do so would have done the same.
The Multiyear Decline in US Economic Freedom
Economic freedom in the world has plunged in recent years, due mainly to the interventions and fiscal-monetary profligacy associated with COVID shutdowns, mandates, and subsidies. The global measure is given in Figure One. This is a significant reversal of freedom’s...
Celebrating Work
Let’s celebrate the important value of work on Labor Day—and demand that our governments stop killing jobs through their taxes, climate action plans and regulations and let people invest, trade, and work freely.
Why Business Must Embrace Individual Rights
A stronger argument to defend capitalism and business against government coercion is needed. It comes from morality.
Maui Needs Speculators
Proposals for a moratorium on land sales risk making the restoration a lengthier and more wasteful affair.
What Innovations Will Be Lost Thanks To FTC’s Merger Meddling
I for one would be devastated if my cordless Dyson was never given the chance, and I wonder what other innovations or advancements may now be lost thanks to a true monopoly obstructing competition in the marketplace – the FTC.
Maximizers and Monopolies, A Benefit to Society
Consumers will choose the best options, or only options, according to their interests and perceptions of value – and companies can either cater to existing needs and wants or create new ones. That is why capitalism is such a beautiful thing, and why the only time monopoly concerns should arise is when government cronyism is involved.
The Charge to Change Capitalism and Why the Profit Motive Must be Preserved
On the growing coalition countering capitalism for the “common good.”
In Defense of Collusion In a Free-Market Under Capitalism
History provides very few actual examples of private firms that are unprotected by government-erected barriers to entry successfully colluding in ways that harm consumers.
The So-Called “Trade Deficit”
The conventional tale of trade deficits fails so utterly to square with reality because tellers of this conventional tale never seriously bother to attempt to understand why foreigners are willing, decade after decade, to send to America more goods and services than they receive in return from America.
On the Mercantilist and Monarchial Origins of the Concept of the ‘Balance of Trade’
Describing as “favorable” a situation in which the people of the home country ship many real goods and services to foreigners and receive in exchange lesser amounts of real goods and services, with the difference made up in money, is indeed – as Adam Smith called it – absurd.
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