Commentary, analysis, insight from the Foundation for Economic Education https://admin.fee.org/feed/?documentType=articles 2024-06-04T09:01:18-04:00 Foundation for Economic Education https://fee.org contact@fee.org FEE.org Feeds by DavidV https://fee.org/articles/aristophanes-central-planning-and-the-enduring-appeal-of-utopian-fantasies/

The idea that an omniscient computer can automate planning and remove human flaws from the process is a fantasy.

2019-06-09T15:00:47-04:00 2019-06-09T15:00:47-04:00 Sarah Skwire https://fee.org/people/sarah-skwire/ <p>As libertarians are often fans of innovation and technological progress, it can be a bit tempting to place a lot of hope in technical solutions. Is the technology, as yet, up to the task? Even if it were possible for a computer to create a "utopia," should we use it that way?</p> https://fee.org/articles/the-loophole-in-a-famous-adage-on-limited-government/

Ritual obeisance to principles can easily be combined with inflating government’s role to metastasize far beyond general welfare.

2019-06-02T11:00:35-04:00 2019-06-02T11:00:35-04:00 Gary M. Galles https://fee.org/people/gary-m-galles/ <p>"The government should do only those things which private citizens cannot do for themselves," people say. The problem with this phrase, Leonard Read, once observed it that is has a a “leak” through which an authoritarian can wiggle.</p> https://fee.org/articles/why-art-schools-are-disappearing/

Art programs need to teach students the skills they need to live a life in the art of their time.

2019-06-01T13:00:14-04:00 2019-06-01T13:00:14-04:00 Michael J. Pearce https://fee.org/people/michael-j-pearce/ <p>High school dropouts are more likely to get a job than art majors, data show. </p> https://fee.org/articles/why-we-need-more-intellectual-humility-and-less-moral-outrage/

The trait "intellectual humility" has received a lot of attention in recent years, largely due to some pioneering research by psychologists Cameron Hopkin and Stacey McElroy-Heltzel.

2019-05-31T15:00:11-04:00 2019-05-31T15:00:11-04:00 Frank McAndrew https://fee.org/people/frank-mcandrew/ <p>While there has probably never been an excess of intellectual humility in Washington, D.C., it’s rarely been as nakedly apparent as it is today.</p> https://fee.org/articles/charters-have-achieved-their-original-goal-innovation/

Charter schools questioned the low expectations that schools place on poor students and challenged the now popular assumption that student-led project learning is the best practice

2019-05-31T14:00:56-04:00 2019-05-31T14:00:56-04:00 Daniel Buck https://fee.org/people/daniel-buck/ <p>The Michaela School is unlike any other predominantly poor school. The hallways are silent. Lunches are served and eaten family-style with students serving each other. Demerits are given for infractions that are as minor as looking out the window during class.</p> https://fee.org/articles/how-to-talk-to-children-about-climate-change/

If in coming years we hope to curb the naive governmental interventions that bring so much ruin to the world, we need to address this belief in the efficacy of government.

2019-05-31T11:01:00-04:00 2019-05-31T11:01:00-04:00 James L. Payne https://fee.org/people/james-l-payne/ <p>The natural impulse is to want to explain how crushingly complicated the climate change issue is. However, this impulse is misguided. The activists do not base their position on reasoning and calculations. The Climate Kids don’t come to their demonstrations pushing wheelbarrows full of cost-benefit analyses.</p> https://fee.org/articles/the-history-of-gun-background-checks/

Whether you like them or not, background checks are here to stay for gun owners and gun purchasers—but they are not the saving grace that some make them out to be.

2019-05-30T14:00:56-04:00 2019-05-30T14:00:56-04:00 Brian Miller https://fee.org/people/brian-miller/ <p>Background checks for gun purchases can only do so much and are not the permanent solution to keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and keeping Americans safe from gun violence. More concerning is that they give the state an ever-growing list of private citizens who own guns, and such a list has historically been used for subsequent gun confiscation attempts.</p> https://fee.org/articles/rising-education-costs-stem-primarily-from-more-teachers-and-bigger-salaries-not-administrative-bloat/

According to a new George Mason University study, schools are paying teachers (and faculty) more in real terms, and have hired more of them.

2019-05-30T13:00:41-04:00 2019-05-30T13:00:41-04:00 Alex Tabarrok https://fee.org/people/alexander-tabarrok/ <p>In a recent study, economists Alex Tabarrok and Eric Helland analyzed rising education costs. The most popular explanation for why costs have soared—administrative bloat—is wrong, but the explanation turns out to be simple.</p> https://fee.org/articles/facebook-s-fate-may-hinge-on-two-key-questions/

Whether or not Facebook is actually biased, it may soon confront regulation or breakup.

2019-05-30T11:00:20-04:00 2019-05-30T11:00:20-04:00 Wendy McElroy https://fee.org/people/wendy-mcelroy/ <p>Facebook officially became a publisher in 2018, the Guardian explains. "In a small courtroom in California...attorneys for the social media company...repeatedly argued, [Facebook] is a publisher, and...makes editorial decisions, which are protected by the first amendment."</p> https://fee.org/articles/why-cosmetic-procedures-are-getting-cheaper/

Between 1998 and 2018, the average cost of cosmetic procedures rose at a slower pace than inflation.

2019-05-30T10:00:07-04:00 2019-05-30T10:00:07-04:00 Gale Pooley https://fee.org/people/gale-pooley/ Marian L. Tupy https://fee.org/people/marian-l-tupy/ <p>If the overall provision of health care in the United States were as cost-efficient as the delivery of cosmetic procedures, Americans would be much wealthier. </p> https://fee.org/articles/today-s-schools-are-yesterday-s-streetcars-how-technology-will-transform-education/

Like the streetcar and horse-and-buggy, institutional schooling will become a cultural relic, a quaint reminder of yesteryear.

2019-05-30T09:00:56-04:00 2019-05-30T09:00:56-04:00 Kerry McDonald https://fee.org/people/kerry-mcdonald/ <p>In his award-winning TED Talk, Newcastle University professor Sugata Mitra explained how children teach themselves without institutional schooling.</p> https://fee.org/articles/what-the-war-on-poverty-and-the-vietnam-war-had-in-common/

Modern-day America is still Great Society’s America but with a way more powerful federal bureaucracy.

2019-05-29T15:00:42-04:00 2019-05-29T15:00:42-04:00 Silvio Simonetti https://fee.org/people/silvio-simonetti/ <p>The War on Poverty and the Vietnam War have more in common than you can imagine. R<span style="font-weight: 500;">obert McNamara </span><span style="font-weight: 500;">applied to Vietnam the same principles of industrial management that he learned at Harvard Business School and successfully used while CEO of Ford.</span></p> https://fee.org/articles/for-affordable-housing-let-supply-meet-demand/

Rather than subsidizing traditional affordable housing, conservatives have pushed to liberalize land use as a way to preserve options for everyone.

2019-05-29T14:00:29-04:00 2019-05-29T14:00:29-04:00 Charles Blain https://fee.org/people/charles-blain/ <p>A cursory look at some of the most unaffordable cities in the country—San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago—shows that subsidies are not making housing more affordable.</p> https://fee.org/articles/why-a-15-interest-cap-on-loans-would-hurt-the-people-it-s-intended-to-help/

Millions of consumers nationwide depend on access to small loans. Limiting the rate of charge to 15 percent per year will not make these loans cheaper.

2019-05-29T13:00:15-04:00 2019-05-29T13:00:15-04:00 Anne Fleming https://fee.org/people/anne-fleming/ <p>The history of small-dollar loans and their regulation shows why Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez should rethink their proposal or risk emboldening the type of lending they hope to stamp out.</p> https://fee.org/articles/adam-smith-reveals-the-rub-in-the-sat-s-adversity-score/

The new ECD score is based on factors such as the student's neighborhood crime levels, poverty, and schools.

2019-05-29T11:00:48-04:00 2019-05-29T11:00:48-04:00 Caroline Breashears https://fee.org/people/caroline-breashears/ <p>Higher education has changed a lot in the last 300 years, but human nature has not. That's why Adam Smith, 18th-century moral philosopher and economist, can still teach us a great deal about the new SAT "adversity score."</p> https://fee.org/articles/tariffs-on-chinese-goods-cost-american-households-831-annually-fed-study-finds/

The trade war is costing American households nearly $1000 each on average, according to the New York Fed.

2019-05-29T10:00:34-04:00 2019-05-29T10:00:34-04:00 James Pethokoukis https://fee.org/people/james-pethokoukis/ <p>The New York Fed published a study detailing the costs of the <span>US-China trade war.</span></p> https://fee.org/articles/ocasio-cortez-s-gardening-advice-echoes-the-hubris-of-mao-s-great-leap-forward/

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to extend identity politics to vegetables.

2019-05-29T09:00:22-04:00 2019-05-29T09:00:22-04:00 Barry Brownstein https://fee.org/people/barry-brownstein/ <p>For Ocasio-Cortez, some vegetables are too “colonial” to grow. We may laugh at Ocasio-Cortez’s boundless hubris, but let’s learn from history.</p> https://fee.org/articles/is-the-third-person-effect-driving-calls-to-regulate-facebook/

Much of the criticism of Facebook relates to how the company’s algorithms target users with advertising, and the “echo chambers” that show users ideologically slanted content.

2019-05-28T15:00:49-04:00 2019-05-28T15:00:49-04:00 Joseph B. Walther https://fee.org/people/joseph-b-walther/ <p>Respondents to a recent survey believed that Facebook affects other people’s perceptions much more strongly than it affects their own. The more they thought that others were more vulnerable than they were, the more they wanted to rein Facebook in.</p> https://fee.org/articles/why-lessons-of-liberty-are-crucial-for-children/

By ensuring that our children begin learning these ideas at an early age, we not only impart the protection of the law, but also a sense of civility, strength, and responsibility.

2019-05-28T14:00:34-04:00 2019-05-28T14:00:34-04:00 Rory Margraf https://fee.org/people/rory-margraf/ <p>The ability to speak freely, share and explore different ideas, and even protest, are all critical aspects of growth and development. We must take control of the future of liberty and safeguard its survival through parental patriotism and the continued effort to educate the next generation.</p> https://fee.org/articles/whats-really-behind-the-high-overdose-rate-of-fentanyl/

Prohibition, not fentanyl, is the real killer.

2019-05-28T13:00:20-04:00 2019-05-28T13:00:20-04:00 Jeffrey A. Miron https://fee.org/people/jeffrey-a-miron/ <p>All opioids can cause overdoses if used in excess (like many legal products). But opioids can also be used indefinitely if consumed in an appropriate dosage.</p> https://fee.org/articles/why-a-free-society-cannot-transform-wishes-into-rights/

Only by defending voluntary arrangements, respecting one another’s self-ownership, can we achieve positive progress.

2019-05-28T11:00:53-04:00 2019-05-28T11:00:53-04:00 Gary M. Galles https://fee.org/people/gary-m-galles/ <p>Benjamin Franklin is said to have written, “If man could have half his wishes, he would double his troubles.” He was referring to the problems our wishes would cause ourselves. But we go far beyond causing ourselves problems whenever we try to transform our wishes into rights.</p> https://fee.org/articles/the-childhood-quality-that-s-the-best-predictor-of-wealth-health-and-happiness/

The question is, are you a parent who has the guts to instill the quality of self-control in the next generation?

2019-05-28T10:00:17-04:00 2019-05-28T10:00:17-04:00 Annie Holmquist https://fee.org/people/annie-holmquist/ <p>According to family physician Dr. Leonard Sax, there is one thing above all else that parents can instill in their children to ensure a successful future.</p> https://fee.org/articles/the-history-politics-and-economics-of-street-names/

The apparently simple task of finding a suitable historic figure to name a street after has been made complicated by government bureaucrats.

2019-05-28T09:00:06-04:00 2019-05-28T09:00:06-04:00 Luka Nikolic https://fee.org/people/luka-nikolic/ <p>Street names may seem minuscule at first. However, they are a very powerful political weapon as they can be used to rewrite history. Communist countries, as well as other regimes, used street names and monuments, as well as other things, to further their political goals.</p> https://fee.org/articles/5-tips-for-building-a-professional-wardrobe-on-a-shoestring-budget/

Tidying up like Marie Kondo and choosing to live minimally will help you see all of the clothing you already do have.

2019-05-27T14:00:15-04:00 2019-05-27T14:00:15-04:00 Chloe Anagnos https://fee.org/people/chloe-anagnos/ <p><span>Don’t beat yourself up for splurging on one or two pieces that you absolutely adore. Find clothing you feel confident in and take great care of them.</span></p> https://fee.org/articles/rent-control-did-to-vietnam-what-us-bombers-couldnt/

Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck asserted that "in many cases rent control appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing."

2019-05-27T12:00:02-04:00 2019-05-27T12:00:02-04:00 David R. Henderson https://fee.org/people/david-r-henderson/ <p>“The Americans couldn’t destroy Hanoi, but we have destroyed our city by very low rents." - Nguyen Co Thach, <span>Foreign Minister of Vietnam from February 1980 to July 1991</span></p>