Library of Economics and Liberty

This is the third in my series on the social costs of drug prohibition. You can read part one here (prison-industrial complex) and part two (police militarization) here.

The contrast often presented between America and China is one where Beijing is a highly competent, well-oiled autocracy while the United States is a political circus held back by partisan drama. On the surface, and especially with recent news headlines, this may seem true. One might recall Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell staring blankly into space in the middle of a press conference, President Joe Biden making frequent gaffs while his opposition chants “Let’s Go Brandon”, or any number... Читать дальше...

On April 1 of this year, California fast-food restaurant chains with sixty or more national locations (for example, McDonalds and Chipotle, but not Bill’s Burgers or Dick Church’s Diner or other off-brand restaurants in the state without national locations) were required to raise their minimum wage for all workers from $16 to $20 per hour, a 25 percent increase in one fell swoop—supposedly intended to make covered low-wage workers better off.

• A Liberty Classics Book Review of Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason: Text and Documents, by F.A. Hayek (edited by Bruce Caldwell). 1

According to F.A. Hayek, what are the theoretical and historical reasons for the tragedies of socialism that emerged in the 20th century?

• … digital media not only enhance information exchange and render offline life obsolete—they also reverse literacy and retrieve orality.

• … This book is about orality, which once was obsolesced by writing, and about literacy, which is now becoming obsolesced by digital media.

• —Andrey Mir, Digital Future in the Rearview Mirror: Jaspers’ Axial Age and Logan’s Alphabet Effect,1 (p. 10)

The year 1969 saw the premier of Sesame Street on public television. Читать дальше...

What does it mean to live Constitutionally in the year 2024? For a start, it means getting off social media. It also means swapping a quill pen for your keyboard, and candlelight for electricity. And don’t forget the tricorn hat and musket–though maybe skip the boiled mutton. Join author A.J. Jacobs as he deep-dives with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts into the centuries-old principles of the U.S. Constitution and tries to apply them to the current day. Topics include the original conceptions of our most cherished amendments... Читать дальше...

First, Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Now to the content.

Backpage: A Blueprint for Squelching Speech

by Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason, April 29, 2024.

Excerpt:

From the beginning, this prosecution has been premised on a bogus rationale (authorities yammer on about sex trafficking though none of the defendants are charged with sex trafficking), overreaching in its scope (attempting to hold a web platform accountable for user-generated speech, in contradiction to Section 230)... Читать дальше...

For many people, a world without zoning sounds like a dystopia.  Uninformed people often assume that zoning laws protect homeowners from the risk of ugly industrial plants being built right next door. In fact, there were rules against that sort of “public nuisance” even before the first zoning laws were enacted. The actual purpose of residential zoning laws is to restrict the supply of new housing.

For those who are under the illusion that zoning is about protecting residential areas against industrial plants... Читать дальше...

American “lawmakers” and “policymakers” are responsible for the one million references to what people must do or may not do that are found in the Code of Federal Regulations. This does not include state and local regulations. The situation is not much different in other Western countries. How could economists be more useful to policymakers, asks Financial Times columnist Soumaya Keynes in “How Economists Could Make Themselves More Useful” (April 26, 2024).

Now before you get your torches and pitchforks, hear me out.

In many industries, but aviation in particular, a stellar safety record is a competitive advantage.  In High Reliability Organizations (HRO), such as airlines, safety is paramount to the success of the organization.  After all, a single accident, regardless of how rare an occurrence it is, could yield a catastrophic result, either in terms of cost of lives or liability.  Indeed, the primary, secondary, and tertiary victims are... Читать дальше...