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This month, amid World Cup fever, New York City implemented a new job-protection law. This law forbids app-based rideshare platforms from removing drivers unless they can show they have “just cause” or a “bona fide economic reason.” The new law follows a pattern set by a similar pandemic-era law, also from New York City, which [] The post The High Cost of Just Cause appeared first on Econlib.
Imagine that history made one small exception. For one evening only, time stopped separating generations. High above the noise of a packed World Cup final game, in a quiet corner of the grandstand untouched by television cameras, eight elderly gentlemen quietly took their seats. No one around them seemed to notice. The crowd had come [] The post A World Cup Final Through Austrian Eyes appeared first on Econlib.
America was born in war. The American Revolution and subsequent constitution of the newly-formed United States reflected some of the key ideas of liberalism—natural rights, government by consent, and limits on state power. The Revolution, however, was just the beginning of war as part of the American identity. Between 1798 and 2023, the United States [] The post War: The Dreaded Enemy of Liberty appeared first on Econlib.
A May 29 article in the IMF’s FD Magazine argues in favor of using U.S. tariffs as a policy tool. It begins by questioning the argument for free trade, claiming that economists have based U.S. and global trade policy on theoretical models rather than empirical evidence: “Tariffs were not tried and found wanting but rejected [] The post A Brief History of Strategic Tariffs in the U.S. appeared first on Econlib.
The core of this argument is that the American Founding set the United States on a unique path that made it one of the richest and freest places in the world. Yet, this causal connection requires a leap of faith. Few have attempted to conjure a counterfactual in which America remained a British colony or [] The post The Cost of the American Revolution appeared first on Econlib.
In The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Adam Smith explains that we want to establish a “mutual sympathy of sentiments.” We want people to agree with our views, and we want to agree with their views. Smith first expanded on this idea—that we are constantly searching for ways to cooperate with one another—in The Theory of [] The post A Mutual Sympathy of Sentiments appeared first on Econlib.
