Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economic Freedom

February 01, 2013

Celebrating Liberty During Black History Month

Since the 1970s, Black History Month has been a time to focus on some of the highlights of the black experience in America. In 2009, Jonathan Bean put together a wonderful book recounting the vital role liberty played in the American black experience. Continue Reading...
January 29, 2013

Free Market Judaism

“Judaism loves the market economy,” says Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi for the British Orthodox synagogues. Rabbi Sacks explains how the “beautiful idea” of comparative advantage promotes peace, cooperation and tolerance among all people. Continue Reading...
January 25, 2013

NAACP, Hispanics Fight Government Intervention

Last September the New York City Board of Health approved a measure that would ban the sale of sugary drinks over 16 ounces. Politicians justified the action because of the city’s escalating obesity rate and research linking sugary drinks to weight gain. Continue Reading...
January 23, 2013

History Shows Freedom Drives a Car

If you want to improve the material conditions of the poor and working classes, what is the one economic metric you should consider most important? For progressives the answer is income inequality, since a wide disparity between the incomes of the rich and poor is considered by them to be an obvious sign of injustice and a justification for using the force of the government to redistribute wealth. Continue Reading...
January 14, 2013

Why Would Anyone Choose Twitter Over Indoor Toilets?

Do most people value electricity and indoor plumbing more than cell phones and the Internet? In his article, Is U.S. Economic Growth Over?, economist Robert Gordon argues that they obviously do, and offers this thought experiment to prove his point: A thought experiment helps to illustrate the fundamental importance of the inventions of [the second industrial revolution] compared to the subset of [computer age] inventions that have occurred since 2002. Continue Reading...
January 10, 2013

Freedom for Kiwis, But Not for Thee

There are more people living in the city of Los Angeles than live in New Zealand. Yet the small country in Oceania beats out the the U.S. in several key areas, such as on the production of movies about hobbits, ratio of sheep to humans (9 to 1), and . Continue Reading...
January 08, 2013

The Fiscal Cliff Deal and Intergenerational Justice

So … what happened? With regular coverage of the US “Fiscal Cliff” running up to the new year, PowerBlog readers may be wondering where the discussion has gone. While I am by no means the most qualified to comment on the matter, I thought a basic summary and critique would be in order: With six minutes to read this 157 page bill, the US House of Representatives passed it. Continue Reading...
January 08, 2013

Three Ways to Defend the Free Market

Nicholas Freiling offers three helpful suggestions for how advocates of liberty can defend the free market: 1. Raising questions is always better than giving answers. Capitalism defends itself. It is logical, coherent and well-supported. Continue Reading...