Over the past several years, I’ve repeatedly argued that you get more unemployment when the government pays people to be unemployed. But I’m not just relying on theory. I’ve cited both anecdotes and empirical research to bolster my case. You won’t be surprised to learn that many politicians have a different perspective. They say it is compassionate to provide unemployment insurance […]

In previous columns, I’ve explained why a wealth tax is a very bad idea. And I’ve also pontificated on why leftists are wrong to pursue policies of coerced equality. So it goes without saying that I’m a big fan of a new Wall Street Journal column by John Steele Gordon. He writes that the anti-wealth ideology animating the political elite is based on a fundamental […]

I haven’t spent much time writing about Thomas Piketty’s inequality book for the simple reason that my goal is economic liberty, not equality. That being said, I think that Piketty is fundamentally misguided even if the goal is helping the poor. Simply stated, long-run growth is the best way of reducing poverty and boosting living standards. […]

Back in 2011, I shared a video making the moral argument that adults should be allowed to buy and sell kidneys. After all, if one person is made better off by selling a kidney and another person is made better off by buying a kidney, why should the rest of us be allowed to ban that voluntary […]

In the battle of ideas, supporters of capitalism and economic liberty sometimes face an uphill climb because of a perception of heartlessness. When companies get in trouble, we’re the mean people who don’t want to give bailouts. When workers are laid off, we’re the Scrooges who don’t want perpetual unemployment checks. And when some workers aren’t earning much money, […]

Using a comparison of Jamaica and Singapore, I recently argued that growth should trump inequality. Simply stated, a growing economic pie is much better for poor people that incentive-sapping redistribution programs that trap people in dependency. In other words, nations with smaller government and less intervention produce better results than nations with bloated governments and lots of meddling. You see […]