Editor’s Pick. Written by Kevin Carson. In an article in last June’s Freeman (2007), I applied some ideas from the socialist-calculation debate to the private corporation and examined the extent to which it is an island of calculational chaos in the market economy. I’d like to expand that line of analysis now and apply some common…
Category: Free Markets
How to Save Endangered Species
Editor’s Pick. Video by 60 Minutes, CBS News.
Bitcoin for Beginners
Editor’s Pick. Written by Jeffrey Tucker. Understanding Bitcoin requires that we understand the limits of our ability to imagine the future that the market can create for us. Thirty years ago, for example, if someone had said that electronic text—digits flying through the air and landing in personalized inboxes owned by us all that we…
The Simplicity of Sound Money
Editor’s Pick. Written by Patrick Barron. Understanding today’s convoluted domestic and international fiat monetary system frankly requires a great deal of time and study. One must understand fractional reserve banking, and the way this system affects the money supply. One must understand the multi-step process by which banks create money out of thin air. One…
End the Fed?
Editor’s Pick. Written by Christopher Zimny. Directly ending the Federal Reserve System through legislation is the wrong goal, both morally and practically, for those who oppose the Fed. Rather, we should be concerned with abolishing the legal tender laws that largely force us to use Federal Reserve notes. If this is achieved, the Fed will…
The Last Gasp of Copyright Dies Within Me
Editor’s Pick. Written by Wendy McElroy. A few weeks ago, my position on intellectual property (IP) shifted. I abandoned the possibility that copyright by contract could function within a libertarian framework. I have argued for decades that IP cannot be derived from natural rights. Most IP advocates claim IP is a product of your labor…
The Golden Age of America is Now
Editor’s Pick. Written by Stephan Kinsella. Too many libertarians, especially of the “sky is falling” crowd (the ones who have been predicting major societal collapse for 40 years), are sure we are in End Times. Some previous age was America’s apex, from which we’ve long been in rapid decline. America has gone from being a…
The Motives of Public Officials
Editor’s Pick. Written by Scott McPherson for FFF.org. It is not uncommon for critics of the free market to allege that for-profit providers of services have an interest, not in solving problems, but rather in prolonging them. Why would the medical industry cure cancer, heart disease, or AIDS, for example, when it would just be…
3 Ways to Think About Intellectual Property
Editor’s Pick. Short lecture by Stephen Davies for LearnLiberty.org.
Copyright and Patents – What a Racket
Editor’s Pick. Written by Malcolm Greenhill for his personal blog. Growth comes from competition. Anything that stifles competition has a negative effect on the incentive to innovate. Protect a company completely from competition by giving it a monopoly, like the United States Postal Service, and stagnation is virtually guaranteed. The granting of monopolies and special…