Did you know that since 1970, the percentage of humanity living in extreme poverty has fallen 80 percent? How did that happen? Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, explains. ...

In the late 1920s, a primary theme of Herbert Hoover’s presidential campaign was the idea of “rugged individualism,” the practice or advocacy of individualism in social and economic relations emphasizing personal liberty and independence, self-reliance, resourcefulness, self-direction of the individual, and petition in enterprise As Hoover said about the era in the U.S. after the Great War, “We were challenged with the choice of the American system ‘rugged individualism’ or the choice of a European system of diametrically opposed doctrines...

I graduated from college in 2008 at the height of the Great Recession. It wasn’t the greatest time to be looking for a job, but nevertheless, I somehow managed to get hired at a global FORTUNE pany. I had conquered! I had succeeded! Alas, within a few months, several of my fellow coworkers were let go and their jobs were offshored to the Philippines and Mexico. It was the first in a series of layoffs e, and I soon realized...

“What if large causes of poverty are not matters of material distribution but are behavioral — bad choices and the cultures that produce them? If so, policymakers must rethink their confidence in social salvation through economic abundance.” –George Will According to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau, the values and priorities of young adults are shifting dramatically from those of generations past. As it relates to family in particular, millennials are pursuing a range of nontraditional routes, either...

On Sunday, German voters cast their ballots for members of the national parliament, the Bundestag, and Angela Merkel appears poised to serve a fourth term as chancellor. But with a much-diminished number of supporters, fierce populist opposition, and warring coalition allies, her tenure could prove tenuous. Populism has surged in the nation, carrying into parliament representatives from both the so-called “far-Right” and far-Left. And Merkel faces the prospect of trying to form a new coalition capable of uniting fiscal conservatives...

Following the election results in Germany this past Sunday, Chancellor Angela Merkel has been re-elected to serve for a fourth term. In his article “Germany Revolts“, Samuel Gregg describes Chancellor Merkel’s party as being “woefully out of touch” with the German people, and as a result many are abandoning the CDU/CSU coalition for the AFD. Perhaps the most important lesson to glean from the election, Gregg says, is that Germany is increasingly reflecting frustrations felt elsewhere in Europe. The European...

The only force greater than the destruction wrought by this summer’s hellish hurricanes is the solidarity written indelibly upon the human heart. The acts of charity they galvanize show the power of voluntary efforts springing from voluntarism, virtue, passion. Unfortunately, natural disasters often inspire calls for more government intervention, either to fight climate change or to preserve the temporary sense of national unity they create. But Steve Stapleton writesthat “the default position of a free people in a free society...

What is Graham-Cassidy? Graham-Cassidy is the shorthand title for a proposal introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to repeal and replace Obamacare. Does this legislation “repeal and replace” Obamacare? As with the previous three Republican proposals, the answer is yes and no (but overall, not really). No, the Graham-Cassidy does pletely repeal Obamacare in toto and it merely replaces some aspects of the current law. But yes, it does repeal certain aspects of Obamacare and in...

Note: This is post #50 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics. Price discrimination mon, says economist Tyler Cowen. Movie theaters charge seniors less money than they charge young adults puter panies sell to businesses and students at different rates, often offering discounts to students. These price differences reflect variations in the elasticity of demand for these different groups. When demand curves are different, it is more profitable to set different prices in different markets (If you find the...

Given the breakneck pace of improvements in automation and artificial intelligence, fears about job loss are taking more space in the cultural imagination.Symbolized by President Obama’s famous laments about ATM machines and the more recent concerns about Amazon’s “job-killing” grocery-store roboclerks, the anxiety is palpable and persistent. Enter the economic planners and doomsayers, using elaborate models and forecasts to affirm such fears, predicting the rise of robot overlords and the demise of human labor. Take the famous 2013 study by...