Free Trade, Managed Trade and the State, Part 3 by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1993 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 "Protectionism is purely and highly socialistic," American economist Francis Walker observed in 1887. "Its purpose is so to operate upon individual choices and aims, so to influence private enterprise and the investments of capital, as to secure the building up, within the ...
Free Trade, Managed Trade and the State, Part 2 by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1993 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 In 1836, the English classical liberal Henry Fairbairn looked into the future and this is what he saw: "Seeing then, that in the natural order of things the triumph of Free Trade principles is now inevitable, magnificent indeed are the prospects that ...
Misreading the Industrial Revolution by Lawrence W. Reed September 1, 1993 Those of us who are advocates of the spontaneous order of an unfettered market are forever stomping out the fires of fallacious reasoning and anticapitalistic bias. It seems that as we set one record straight, opponents of the market manage to pervert ten others. We spend as much time explaining ...
Free Trade, Managed Trade and the State, Part 1 by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 1993 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 "The principle of free trade is non-interference," wrote the English classical economist Nassau Senior in 1828. "It is to suffer every man to employ his industry in the manner which he thinks most advantageous, without a pretense on the part of the ...
The Failure of Socialism and Lessons for America, Part 2 by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1993 Part 1 | Part 2 In the early 1920s, Ludwig von Mises pointed out that "socialism is the watchword of our day. The socialist idea dominates the modem spirit. The masses approve of it; it has set its seal upon our time. When history comes to tell our story it will write above the chapter, 'The Epoch of Socialism."' Since ...
The Failure of Socialism and Lessons for America, Part 1 by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1993 Part 1 | Part 2 The world is watching the spectacle of Russia and the other captive nations of the former Soviet Union trying to free themselves from their seventy-five-year experiment in socialism. The bankruptcy of the system is accepted by practically everyone. The economies of the former Soviet republics are in shambles. Civil wars and ethnic violence have ...
Speculation, Law, and the Market Process by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1993 After Hurricane Andrew devastated the southern part of Florida, the state's attorney general threatened to prosecute "price-gougers" and speculators for charging exorbitant prices for food, ice, plywood, and other essential items. The Power of government officials to regulate prices and to punish speculators is not new. It stretches back centuries. ...
The Slaughterhouse Cases by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 1993 1869, the Louisiana legislature enacted a statute granting seventeen people the exclusive right to operate the only slaughterhouse in Orleans. All other slaughterhouses were required to close down. Any butcher who desired to continue his trade would be permitted to do so in the new slaughterhouse and would be ...
Historical Capitalism vs. The Free Market by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1993 During the dark days of Nazi collectivism in Europe, the German economist Wilhelm Röpke used the haven of neutral Switzerland for continuing to write and lecture on the moral and economic principles of the free society. "Collectivism," he warned, was "the fundamental and moral danger of the West." The triumph ...
Playing Monopoly in the Real World by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 1992 There are three major monopolies in the United States that have plagued the American people throughout most of this century. Yet despite their professed opposition to monopolies, the American people simply cannot bring themselves to end them. But end them we must — for they are among the most tyrannical and destructive aspects of the American welfare-state, regulated-economy way ...
Monopoly by Dominick T. Armentano May 1, 1992 I have been teaching economics at the university level for twenty-five years. Easily the most often-asked questions relate to monopolies. The questions are often put in the following form: "In an economy free of governmental regulation, wouldn't a firm or group of firms obtain a monopoly over some vital resource or ...
Fair versus Free by Milton Friedman February 1, 1992 The Federal Communications Commission seeks to enforce a "fairness doctrine" on radio and TV stations. We suffered numerous "fair trade" laws, until they were declared unenforceable. One businessman vies with another in proclaiming his faith in competition provided that it is "fair." Yet, scrutinize word for word the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and you ...