As we eulogize this beacon of American capitalism, we should also celebrate one of its lesser-known achievements: using markets to combat Jim Crow laws. by Brittany Hunter After 125 years in business, Sears has filed for bankruptcy and may soon be closing its doors forever. This has elicited strong emotions, … Read more

Get with the times, think for yourself, and realize: you don’t have to go to college to be successful. by Rebecca Zeines When I was still in school, I remember thinking about college as an automatic next step in furthering my education. What I didn’t think about were the actual … Read more

Frederic Bastiat’s “The Law,” written near the end of his life in 1850 France, is a symphony of ideas. Stanton Skerjanec My high school economic students are reading their first book of the year, one that is close to the hearts of liberty lovers: Frederic Bastiat’s The Law, written near the … Read more

Eliminating compulsory schooling laws would break the century-and-a-half stranglehold of schooling on education. Kerry McDonald We should always be leery of laws passed “for our own good,” as if the state knows better. The history of compulsory schooling statutes is rife with paternalism, triggered by anti-immigrant sentiments in the mid-nineteenth … Read more

By Thomas DiLorenzo In his classic 1922 book Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis (first English edition published in 1936) Ludwig von Mises wrote of how the object of socialists everywhere had always been the destruction of existing society. After that is accomplished, then they can begin making vague promises … Read more

This outcome is not a surprise. Craig Eyermann The US government’s Conservation Reserve subsidy program started with the best of intentions. The Consequences of Market Intervention Responding to a short-term plunge in crop prices in the mid-1980s, the US government offered distressed farmers a temporary subsidy payment if they would … Read more