When economic "rents" or market failures provide economic benefits to weaker groups -- those with less stature or power in society -- efforts to eradicate such "inefficiencies" may further empower dominant elites in ways that are counterproductive for the larger society.
America has placed too much faith in the power of markets for the past 30 years, a belief not even the financial crisis could shake. The country risks...
Although an issue like health care certainly reflects many of the broader ideological schisms in our political debate, amiss in ideological debates like these is the technical reality of the unique challenge posed by health care.
Religion defines spaces of good and evil, and helps us to deal with the absurdity of human pain and suffering. Is it any wonder that people devote so much energy to religious practices?
Like it or not, even a capitalist economy is a system in which your actions affect other people. Your freedom to swing your fist ends, famously, at the tip of my nose, and what you buy and don't buy affects other people.
Depression, people on the streets, begging, homelessness, the end of the American Dream -- sounds like today. Well, today in the new Ayn Rand movie At...
Since the first time Jarrod scored thirty points as a high school freshman, he had been causing a stir. The points brought scouts, the scouts brought recruiters. But they all had the same interested in Jarrod.
It did not take long for the conflicts to emerge as Republicans struggle to make good on their commitments to reduce federal spending. In the wake of ...
In his endearingly titled blog, "Michael, we hardly knew ye," the venerable evolutionary biologist and slayer of creationist dragons Jerry Coyne (auth...
In the United States, where bankers continue to rule the Obama administration's economic team, the idea of government teaming up with business to drive long-term innovation and growth is still struggling to gain attention.
I'm so convinced that the private market will make everything better that I think we should do it across the board. Let's start with firecare. Why should I pay for firecare services for people who are dumb enough to start fires?
Although Posner still walks the intellectually gutted halls of the University of Chicago, he has no reservation helping tear their remaining ruins down from within.
Were one to design a political philosophy calculated to appeal to large numbers of "conservatives" and "liberals," it might look very much like contemporary libertarianism.
In Michael Moore's worldview, a goodly portion of the American people are ignorant, uneducated, clueless pinheads too stupid to realize the fundamental principle of a loan.
We are witnessing one of humanity's most unbearable tragedies following the earthquake in Haiti. It allows us to ask: Is this as much a story about poverty and failed governance as it is of natural disasters?
In Pennsylvania they caught two judges jailing kids for profit. I think it would be a good idea to look into all situations of people of all ages being sentenced to any privately-run facility.
Barack Obama needs to stop talking about nebulous, floating on a cloud change. And start talking about how he is going to kick these people's asses. We need someone to take our government back.
No matter how subtly the conquest happens, Russian control of Georgia would amount to an historic shift in the balance of power -- especially as long as the world economy is fueled by oil.