How did the federal government acquire this omnipotent power? Certainly not by constitutional amendment. It acquired it by converting the federal government after World War II from a limited-government republic to a national security state.

Could new gold discoveries cause a (small) boom-bust cycle if the gold hit the loan market before other sectors? Bill Barnett and Walter Block join Bob Murphy to discuss. 

Prudent economic calculation becomes more difficult as legal and regulatory regimes are subject to frequent changes and political upheaval. 

The latest impeachment saga simply confirms Thomas Paine’s adage: “The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.” Score another victory for the Swamp.

As Mark Thornton has shown, the big legislative change that FDR made at the start of his presidency, the decision that affected every single American citizen from one coast to the other, was the repeal of the thirteen-year hell of Prohibition.

Entrepreneurship — not job creation programs — is the best pathway for all people out of unsatisfactory economic circumstances.

Social activists now regard the minimum wage as another welfare program that can reduce the costs of programs like Medicaid and food stamps, and can reduce inequality. But the minimum wage is very poorly targeted for these purposes.

Mainstream economists claim China needs more consumption and a bigger welfare state. They think China's high savings rate is a bad thing. These economists are wrong. 

We're now hearing many calls for more antitrust legislation applied to Big Tech because these firms are allegedly monopolies. But old-fashioned antitrust was a disaster, as will be new efforts against tech companies.

Behavioral economists and psychologists define as irrational anything that doesn't fit into a narrow model of behavior. Anything "irrational"—like buying the "wrong" stock—must be fixed with government regulation.