A common criticism of the market economy is that the wealth it generates brings with it unacceptable levels of income inequality—it is conceded that the market economy generates great deals of material wealth, but it is argued that this material wealth is accrued unevenly. The astute reader will note that income inequality, as measured by the Gini
In my last piece, I argued that we may not be measuring inequality correctly and that, if we examine our ability to substitute the goods available to the poor for the goods available to the rich, we may find that the gap between rich and poor is shrinking. But let’s go ahead and grant that we are measuring inequality correctly and that it is
In previous essays, I have argued that a) we may not be measuring inequality correctly and that a proper conception of the concept may lead us to the conclusion that inequality is actually decreasing , and b) that even if inequality is increasing, it is unclear that it is necessarily detrimental to society . Here, I will show that the data on the
A reader has brought to my attention the fact that the second graph in my Daily Article from 6/2 (”Public and Private Welfare Expenditures as Percentage of GDP and Gini Coefficient, 1980-1994”) suggests that private expenditure on welfare was 14% of GDP in 1994. This is clearly an error; there is still an upward trend, but the numbers have been
Concering this item , perhaps Coach Schwartz isn’t familiar with the “Lucas Critique,” in which Robert Lucas demonstrated that government economic models tended to be incorrect because people change their behavior in the face of government policy? Because Coach Schwartz will change his coaching behavior in response to what his models predict,
According to this story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the price of flu vaccines has more than quintupled. So what’s the problem? Entrepreneurs are allocating resources to the uses that bring people the greatest benefit. They should be applauded for doing so, right? But this isn’t the case. According to several sources quoted in the article,
Surprise, surprise: the New York Times doesn’t approve of one of Bush’s “ideologically motivated” judicial nominees. They criticize the nominee’s refusal to adhere to modern legal tradition—namely, the tradition holding that the state is the wellspring of human progress—and for having the audacity to suggest that “well-intentioned” government
The Free Market 23, no. 12 (December 2003) It is not a short step from poverty to prosperity, and the transition itself has long been exploited by opponents of the market economy. Even today, the myth survives that the Industrial Revolution was characterized by worsening living standards, when it in fact marked a new age of mass prosperity, a
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.