Tag: price controls
What interest rates really are and what happens when governments change them
February 1, 2017 | Post
The first thing to clarify is what an interest rate is not.
Two minimum wage charts for the minimum wage supporter
January 7, 2017 | Post
The glowing claims about minimum wage laws don’t pass the most basic economic smell tests. Just look at the data from Europe.
How to get your progressive friends to understand the minimum wage
December 16, 2016 | Post
Early proponents of the minimum wage advocated it not in spite of, but for its deleterious effects on minority populations.
What happens when you raise the minimum wage?
November 13, 2016 | Post
California’s minimum wage is set to rise to $15 an hour by 2022.
The Unspoken Truth About Government Policies That Are Supposed to Help People
September 15, 2016 | Post
Economics can be counterintuitive and abstract, but it is also essential for understanding how the world works—especially when we’re trying to make policies in the spirit of good intentions.
Lessons from Venezuela, as Told by a Venezuelan
August 8, 2016 | Post
Editor’s note: This piece was originally posted by Freedom Partners on July 31st, 2016. Minor edits were made to improve clarity. What does socialism look like in the real world? Cronyism. Inequality. Poverty. Despair. Human suffering on an immense scale. That’s the answer that Freedom Partners member — and Venezuela native — Erick Brimen gives in the video below. […]
The Consequences of Ignoring Economics in Public Policy
July 12, 2016 | Post
Why does economic education matter? Look no further than the ongoing crisis in Venezuela, where the Washington Post is reporting that food shortages are so bad that people are attacking food trucks when they make deliveries. It all started when Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, tried to formulate public policy while ignoring economics. […]
Raising the Minimum Wage Cannot Benefit the Economy
June 13, 2016 | Post
In the current debate about the minimum wage, some argue that higher minimum wages boost the economy overall. If workers receive higher wages, the reasoning goes, then they will have more money to spend, and their increased spending will boost business all around. In this news video, for example, an activist in the citizen action […]
Open Letter, Part 2: Minimum Wage Laws Are Immoral
May 20, 2016 | Post
Editor’s Note: This is part 2 of an open letter from Prof. Howard Baetjer to a friend who commented on one of his Facebook posts about minimum wage laws. You can view part 1 here.Baetjer and his friend, Adam, look at the minimum wage issue from very different perspectives, so Baetjer wrote an open letter. […]
California’s Massive Minimum Wage Hike to Benefit Rich Coastal Cities at Expense of Inland Regions
April 7, 2016 | Post
Yesterday, California Governor Jerry Brown and the state legislature agreed to a plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour across the state by 2022 in order to gradually increase the earnings of 6.5 million Californians. Regarding the proposal, Brown said: This plan raises the minimum wage in a careful and responsible […]
Three Reasons Why a $15 Minimum Wage Is a Bad Idea
January 14, 2016 | Post
Is a $15 minimum wage a free lunch? George Mason University Professor Don Boudreaux says no. In the brand new video below, he points out that minimum wage hikes may sound good in on their face, but in reality they result in job loss because they increase the cost of labor, making low-skilled employees more […]
Did You Know?
November 26, 2015 | Post
Did you know that selling milk for less than the government’s imposed price floor could land you in jail? Prison time isn’t the only drawback of minimum prices for milk. Prices are the miraculous mechanism by which complex market information about supply and demand are communicated throughout the economy. When government policies artificially raise or […]
Medicare: The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves
October 15, 2015 | Post
I got a powerful reminder a few months ago of a lesson I learned in grad school: numbers don’t speak for themselves. We must interpret them alertly if we are to learn from them.The numbers I came across are these: [Medicare] spends roughly $3 on administration for each $100 of medical services it buys for […]