“Contentious Issues in Classical Liberalism” was the theme of this year’s Mont Pelerin Society. This gave me a chance to explore a major puzzle: Sociologically, immigration clearly deserves to be on the agenda. After all, many people otherwise sympathetic to human freedom and free markets support even more immigration restrictions than we already have. Intellectually, however, it’s hard to see why.
Tag: markets
Walled Gardens of the Infocalypse
A friend once called the plummeting cost of information “The Infocalypse”. So much info flying everywhere might soon fry our brains. A bit dramatic, but there’s an economic reality here. Info costs were the main driver of many social and commercial institutions and relationships for most of human history. They keep dropping, changing everything.
Donald Trump, Socialist
“Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” US president Donald Trump announced in his State of the Union address in February. His base, as he had hoped, cheered him on in setting himself up as foil to Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In the three months since, though, Trump has doubled down on his own socialist policy proposals.
Facebook Isn’t a “Monopoly” — Let’s Not Make it Into One
Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, adding his voice to calls to “break up” the social media giant, calls it a “powerful monopoly, eclipsing all of its rivals and erasing competition.” In recent years, we’ve seen similar claims, and heard demands for similar remedies, aimed at Google, Amazon, and other large companies. Are these claims true? Are the large “dot-coms” monopolies in any real sense? The short answer is no.
Edward Stringham: Do We Need Government? (1h15m)
This episode features a lecture by economics professor Edward Stringham from 2009. Should government provide law enforcement? Most would argue that government is absolutely necessary for law enforcement. Prof. Stringhman, however, argues that government may not even be necessary at all. To come to this conclusion, Prof. Stringham asks a few important questions. First, if something is really important, does it logically follow that government should provide it? Second, are markets capable of providing law enforcement and security in the modern world? Third, how are disputes currently settled between people of different countries?
The Weakest Generation
As it turns out, sharing a downtown loft with a horde of dysfunctional roommates, taking an Uber every time you need to travel, and using Postmates instead of going grocery shopping doesn’t exactly create functioning adults. There is plenty of blame to go around. Helicopter parenting, participation trophies, a lack of real-world experiences and work (whatever happened to summer jobs?), and the systemic failures of higher education have all played their part. Let’s talk a bit about the last one.
Triple Standards: The Dollar, the Throne, and the Altar
Since the general story is utterly wrong, however, there’s no hope for Tyler’s specific version. If he were right, people would also anthropomorphize governments and churches, leading to unfairly harsh judgment. In fact, however, governments and churches enjoy overwhelming deference even when they’re engaged in vile crimes. We damn the dollar, yet honor both throne and altar.
Big Business: Recasting the Anti-Hero
My main criticism: Tyler is so pro-business that he often forgets (at least rhetorically) to be pro-market. He spends minimal time calling for moderate deregulation – and even less calling for radical deregulation. So while he effectively calls attention to everything business does for us, he barely shows readers how much business could do for us if government got out of the way.
Words Poorly Used #140 — Corporatism
In its worst misuse, “corporatism” is given as a synonym for capitalism. Corporatism is made of fictions, while capitalism is a natural economic occurrence. Corporatism is the case where statism is used to control purely natural market activities. When well-meaning people complain about the excesses of capitalism, they are usually resenting the dodging of responsibility, legislatively by the state-licensed corporation or illegally by the marauder.
Big Government and Big Tech versus the Internet and Everyone
Governments around the world began trying to bring the Internet under control as soon as they realized the danger to their power represented by unfettered public access to, and exchange of, information. From attempts to suppress strong encryption technology to the Communications Decency Act in the US and China’s “Great Firewall,” such efforts have generally proven ineffectual. But things are changing, and not for the better.