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1 month ago | 
econlib.org | Christopher Freiman |Pierre Lemieux |Scott Sumner
A proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10% is gaining support from politicians on both the left and the right. Advocates argue that this policy will work to the advantage of potential borrowers who will no longer be charged rates of 25% or higher. But things aren’t so simple.
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Jan 24, 2025 | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |Kevin Corcoran |Christopher Freiman
The idea that the only thing missing in a project is “political will” is a cliché representative of our times. We find it again in a Financial Times article about regulating social media ( “The Coming Battle Between Social Media and the State,” January 21, 2025):But there are two problems with regulating social media platforms.
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Nov 15, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |Christopher Freiman |David Henderson
Winning an election with 50% plus a few (or many) voters does not imply the normative conclusion that the winner is justified to impose policies that significantly harm the other 49% (or less). In a free society, the political majority rule has three main advantages. First, it allows to change the rulers when their exercise of power is repudiated by a significant proportion of the population—to throw out the rascals.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Christopher Freiman |David Henderson |Scott Sumner
Imagine that Walt is gently swaying in a hammock on a well-deserved vacation day when his phone rings. It’s his boss. She tells him that his co-worker has an emergency and can’t come into work. Although it’s last minute, she asks if Walt would be willing to work today—otherwise, the store will be too short staffed to open. Walt says, “Look, I’m enjoying my time off even more than I thought I would.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
reason.com | Christopher Freiman
Immigration If government-drawn lines within your country don't possess some sort of moral magic that voids your rights, why would government-drawn lines between countries?
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Sep 12, 2024 | 
econlib.org | David Henderson |Christopher Freiman |Scott Sumner
And we’re seeing it in real time in Canada. In August 2021, in an EconLog post about Canada, I wrote:Government can’t subsidize newspapers without putting its thumb on the scale. The post was titled “Canada’s Decline in Press Freedom.” In that post, I discussed the Canadian government’s system of subsidies to newspapers.
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Sep 11, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Christopher Freiman |Scott Sumner |David Henderson
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, recently urged his supporters to not “shy away from our progressive values. One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.” Socialism is sharing a cup of sugar with the family across the street, and who could object to that?
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Aug 1, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Pierre Lemieux |Scott Sumner |Christopher Freiman
You can find the best argument for the feasibility of private financing of public goods in Anthony de Jasay’s 1989 book Social Contract, Free Ride: A Study of the Public Goods Problem (Clarendon Press). As a bonus or a malus, you will also find there an argument against social contractarianism à la Buchanan. De Jasay’s book is a technical book, not necessarily easy to read and not without flaws. I summarized the argument and offered a critique in a recent Regulation article (see pp. 60-62).
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Jul 31, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Scott Sumner |Christopher Freiman |Jon Murphy
It’s widely expected that the Fed will cut its target interest rate in September. Nonetheless, Fed chair Powell insists that the decision will be data dependent. Suppose the Fed decides not to cut interest rates in September—what will that imply about growth prospects for the fourth quarter of 2024? Should that lead us to revise down our forecasts, or should we increase the forecast for growth?
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Jul 31, 2024 | 
econlib.org | Christopher Freiman |Jon Murphy |Alexander I. Salter
President Biden recently announced a plan to impose a 5% cap on yearly rent increases by large-scale landlords. Rent control is a notoriously counterproductive policy. The reason is simple: rent control disincentivizes the construction of new housing units because it makes that construction less profitable. And a reduction in housing supply is precisely what we don’t want if our goal is widespread affordable housing.
