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A narrow escape for Britain: EU gears up for the Social Pillar

As the European Union turns 60, the future of the block is in doubt. On its southern borders, Greece is a problem that just won’t go away. To the North, [...]

The US education bubble

Austrian economic theory tells us that asset bubbles arise when artificial credit expansion distorts capital allocation and leads to production that is out of [...]

Payday lenders and the unintended consequences of regulation

In the autumn of 2015 the FCA, the UK’s financial regulator, were hard at work on a new set of regulations. In their sights were payday lenders, who had been [...]

Poor countries need trade, not aid

‘Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime’. This supposedly Chinese proverb expresses [...]

Why are US drugs prices so high? Because of government!

Progressive lawmakers in the US have not had much to celebrate lately, but they gained some traction late February, when President Trump gave his support to a [...]

Should robots pay tax?

Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and the richest man on the planet, made headlines recently with a call for a tax on robots, to equalise some perceived advantage [...]

Identity politics and the emergence of a new culture war

We live in an age defined by identity. No longer is a man judged by his actions, but by what demographic he belongs to. The idea that man (or woman, [...]

Charity versus welfare: the moral bankruptcy of state benefits

The most common objection to the welfare state is that ‘without welfare the poor would die in the streets’. It pops up without fail in every conversation [...]

Were prices really falling? What you MUST know about inflation

Around the world, politicians and central bankers have been worried about the cost of the stuff we buy not being high enough. Official UK inflation has hovered [...]

Trump: good or bad for libertarians?

As a libertarian watching the phenomenon that is Donald Trump, it is difficult to know exactly what to think. One can't help but be impressed by his [...]