Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economics

October 30, 2014

Russell Kirk on Envy

Following up on the recent discussions of envy, here’s a bit from Russell Kirk’s book on economics: It would be easy enough to list other moral beliefs and customs that are part of the foundation of a prosperous economy, but we draw near to the end of this book. Continue Reading...
October 27, 2014

What’s the Right Minimum Wage?

What’s the perfect minimum wage? $10 an hour? $20? $50? Economist David Henderson explains why it should be “zero.” As Henderson explains, when the state mandates a minimum wage (or an increase), it makes harder for unemployed people to find work and forces business owners to cut the hours of lower-skilled employees. Continue Reading...
October 27, 2014

The Complexities of Airport Capitalism

Over at The Federalist today, I ruminate on a conversation I overheard at an airport recently. I was an innocent auditor, I assure you. In the words of Sam Gamgee to Gandalf, “I ain’t been droppin’ no eaves sir, honest.” Continue Reading...
October 23, 2014

Cavemen Explain How Markets Work

For a country that talks incessantly about “the economy”, a surprisingly large number of Americans are confused about how an economy actually functions. To help close that educational gap, Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Continue Reading...
October 20, 2014

The Welfare State and Intergenerational Injustice

Last Saturday The Imaginative Conservative published my essay, “Let’s Get Back to Robbing Peter: The Welfare State and Demographic Decline.” To add to what I say there, it should be a far more pressing concern to conscientious citizens that the US national debt has risen from $13 trillion in 2010 to nearly $18 trillion today. Continue Reading...