The Objective Standard: Economics

Frédéric Bastiat: Liberty, Rights, and The Law

Wed, 28 May 2025 22:57:00 GMT

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men together in a society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it, and a moral code that glorifies it. —Frédéric Bastiat

In the ideological upheaval of 19th-century France, a nation grappling with the disastrous fallout of Napoleon’s wars and economic policies …

A Black Hole in Economics: Money Creation and Its Consequences by Jim Brown (Review)

Michael Dahlen — Wed, 28 May 2025 20:03:42 GMT

Seneca, SC: Loco-Foco Press, 2024
324 pp. $7.50 (Kindle)

Editor’s note: This review includes a glossary of terms. Readers unfamiliar with economics may wish to familiarize themselves with the glossary before reading the review.

How is money created, who creates it, and what are the economic effects of money creation? In his book A Black Hole in Economics: …

My Conversion from Anti-Industrialist to Lover of Human Progress

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Sometimes when I talk and write about the importance of science, technology, and entrepreneurship to human opportunity and living standards, people ask me why I seem so obsessed with progress.

There is a simple reason: I did not use to believe in it.

When I was around fifteen, I shared many of the ideas of the people I now spend my time arguing against. I…

Johan Norberg on Openness, Innovation, and Flourishing

Thomas F. Walker — Fri, 19 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Authors’ note: Johan Norberg will be speaking at OSI's first European conference, Innovation Celebration, on March 19, 2023. Get your ticket here.

We recently interviewed Johan Norberg, an author and documentary filmmaker who advocates economic globalization and classical liberalism. He is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and has written a number of…

Fossil Future: Why Global Human Flourishing Requires More Oil, Coal, and Natural Gas—Not Less by Alex Epstein (Review)

Fri, 19 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

New York: Portfolio/Penguin, 2022
430 pp. $19.59 (hardcover)

We know what today’s “experts” say about fossil fuels: Global warming is an imminent threat to life on earth; CO2 emissions from fossil fuels are the cause; and therefore, we should quickly replace fossil fuels with “renewables” or “green” energy such as wind and solar.

But are these conclusions …

Ayn Rand vs. Classical Economists

Sat, 21 May 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Ayn Rand’s case for capitalism stands in marked contrast to what might be termed the classical defense of capitalism. Throughout the past 250 years, proponents of capitalism predominantly have sought to justify it on purely politico-economic grounds—or by arguing that free, unregulated markets result in “the greatest good for the greatest number.” Ayn R…

Bryan Caplan on Freedom and Innovation

Angelica Werth — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

At Students for Liberty’s Freer Future Fest in Nashville, I spoke with Dr. Bryan Caplan about freedom and innovation. Caplan is a professor of economics at George Mason University, a scholar at Cato Institute, and the author of four books (plus several in progress), most recently Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration. I’ve edited the trans…

Why French Revolution-Inspired Attitudes toward the Ultra-Wealthy Are Nonsensical

Angelica Werth — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This piece is republished with permission from Foundation for Economic Education.

When Elon Musk became the richest man in the world, one Redditor declared, “Elon Musk becomes richest man: First in line for the guillotine,” to which another replied, “Once his head’s off, we’re throwing Bezos on there next.”1

In August 2020, protestors set up…

Why Jeff Bezos Is Not a “Tech Mogul” or “King of E-Commerce”

Thomas F. Walker — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This piece is republished with permission from Foundation for Economic Education.

How did Jeff Bezos become the “King of E-Commerce”? That’s the question Bloomberg set out to answer in a short YouTube video that now has 750,000 views. Unfortunately, their question reinforced an old but erroneous idea: that businessmen who rise to the top o…

The Financial Programs of Alexander Hamilton, by a Farmer’s Daughter by Dianne L. Durante

Fri, 22 Oct 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Self-published, 2021

392 pp. $35.00 (paperback)

In The Financial Programs of Alexander Hamilton, by a Farmer’s Daughter, Dr. Dianne Durante (an actual farmer’s daughter) explains the seemingly arcane financial policies of Alexander Hamilton in words that any layman can understand and see the importance of.

Durante asks, “In late 1789, what would the man wh…

Where Have All the Capitalists Gone? Essays in Moral Political Economy by Richard M. Salsman

Wed, 25 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Great Barrington, MA: American Institute for Economic Research, 2021

524 pp. $22 (paperback)

Imagine living in a rights-protecting society where individuals are free to create an abundance of life-serving products and services—where scientific and medical innovations are so common that your life expectancy could easily surpass ages we currently only dream…

How a McDonald’s Gig Helped Propel Olympian Quanesha Burks to Tokyo

Mon, 02 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Editor’s note: This article is republished with permission from Foundation for Economic Education.

For Olympic jumper Quanesha Burks, the road to the Tokyo games started in a surprising place: a McDonald’s.

Raised by her grandparents in Hartselle, Alabama, she got her first job there at seventeen. Her days began at 4:30 am, driving her grandmother to work…

What a Global Minimum Tax Means—Economically and Morally

Angelica Werth — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and the financial leaders of the other G7 nations (Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan) recently agreed to a minimum corporate tax rate of 15 percent, and they are currently working to convince holdouts in the G20 nations to join the agreement.1

According to current proposals, the global minim…

A Private Rail Renaissance Percolates after Fifty Years of Amtrak Failures

Thomas F. Walker — Wed, 28 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

For the first time in fifty years, America has an intercity passenger railroad worthy of pride. In the heart of downtown Miami stands the shining new MiamiCentral Station, the southern terminus of Brightline—a private railroad linking Florida’s largest city with Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

A journey on Brightline is quite a departure from the ex…

GameStop: The Failed Crusade against Wealth Producers

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

“My goal isn’t to get rich on this; my goal is to bankrupt these billionaires,” claimed John Motter in an interview for the Los Angeles Times, after he used his government stimulus check to trade stocks. “I would buy magic beans on the street from a stranger if he said they had the potential to ruin a billionaire’s life.”1 Many traders on the Reddit plat…

Celebrating Progress and Combating Complacency: An Interview with Virginia Postrel

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Few writers in the liberty movement are as dynamic and inspiring as Virginia Postrel, former editor of Reason magazine and author of The Future and Its Enemies (1998), The Substance of Style (2003), The Power of Glamour (2013), and The Fabric of Civilization (2020). Winner of the 2011 Bastiat prize, Postrel started her writing career reporting for the W…

Per-Worker Productivity Compared: Fossil Fuels versus Wind and Solar

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

If the wager were $1,000, which of the following would you say is true?

A. Per worker, employees at fossil fuel companies produce somewhat more electricity than those at wind and solar energy companies.

B. Workers in both industries produce roughly the same amount of electricity per worker.

C. Employees at wind and solar energy companies produce somewhat m…

Capitalism’s Greatest Hits: The Top Five Heartwarming Holiday Ads of All Time

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

I love the holiday vibe during the few weeks before Christmas: the fir-scented candles, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra holiday music, Christmas lights, hot chocolate, and ads. Wait, what? Yes . . . advertisements.

The root word of “commercial” is commerce. And the root of commerce is the Latin com, meaning “together.” Fittingly, great advertising doesn’t …

The Pattern Day Trader Rule Hinders Financial Independence

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Any adult in the United States can walk into a casino and gamble away his money, playing as many games as he wants. He can also walk into a luxury clothing store and buy as many items as he can afford. It’s his money—why shouldn’t he be free to use it as he pleases?

But in the stock market, he cannot. The Pattern Day Trader (PDT) rule, created and enforc…

Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire by Rebecca Henderson

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

New York: PublicAffairs, 2020

322 pp. $28.00 (hardcover)

As the world navigates yet another economic crisis, pundits have once again let loose a barrage of shopworn arguments about how “capitalism” has outlived its usefulness and must be resigned to the dustbin of history. Many are calling for a variety of new regulations, for a Green New Deal, and for ou…