Irrational and unjust discrimination in the workplace deserves exposure and condemnation. But what about rational discrimination? Consider the following cases. * You are the chair of the hiring committee for a new president of a historically-black college. So you discriminate in favor of black candidates and against non-black candidates. * You are the owner of […]
How to Discriminate Properly [Good Life series] Read More »
Racist attitudes are a holdover from primitive times. There is still plenty of racism, but we have made progress in some parts of the world, as this Washington Post graphic of most and least racist nations shows. In much of Europe, North and South America, Australia and New Zealand, and a few other places, racism
Is Racial Tolerance the Best We Can Do? [Good Life series] Read More »
[This is a Portuguese translation of “The Limits of Open Immigration”, originally published in English at EveryJoe.] Quando eu imigrei para os Estados Unidos, a experiência não foi bem um pesadelo, mas uma série de sonhos ruins. Eu era do amistoso vizinho Canadá. Eu tinha um Ph.D. e uma oferta de trabalho de uma universidade
Os limites da livre imigração [Portuguese translation] Read More »
I’m speaking on “The State of the Universities” at the annual Atlas Summit conference, this year at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. I’ll also be participating in a session at FreedomFest with Robert Bradley, John Allison, and Steve Bradley on “Just Business: Can Good Profits Save Capitalism?”
Two talks in Nevada — Atlas Summit and FreedomFest Read More »
Let me give you some examples of monopolies and ask: Which are good and which are bad? 1. Megan and Ramon begin dating and become enraptured of each other. Soon they are monopolizing each other’s time and decide to form a lifetime, exclusive relationship. 2. A town in a remote area has a few stores
Good Monopoly, Bad Monopoly: When Are Monopolies Actually a Problem? [Good Life series] Read More »
¿Por qué la filosofía comienza con Thales? Por Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D. Traducido al Español por Fermin Elizalde, 2019. English Version ¿Tiene Kant un lugar en el liberalismo clásico? Por Stephen R. C. Hicks, Ph.D. La respuesta es complicada. Cualquier lectura de la gran masa de escritos de Kant nos ofrece inicialmente una mezcla
Is Religion True, Reasonable, or Good? A Debate Theist vs. Atheist: What Should You Believe? A seven-part debate series between two columnists, John C. Wright and Stephen R.C. Hicks, in which they argue opposite positions on key issues in religion. Philosophy and Religion “Why Philosophy Begins With Thales”: Why Thales’s intellectual revolution marks the Greek
A perverse implication of minimum wage laws is their effect on volunteer work. Suppose politicians set a minimum wage at $10 per hour. Employers are now forbidden from offering a wage below $10 and employees are forbidden from accepting such wages. (Side note: See Adkins v. Children’s Hospital for the Supreme Court’s 1923 decision that
Should We Also Ban Volunteering? Read More »
Last month I linked to the 2015 edition of “INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY 2015” [pdf], which ranks 193 countries in three categories: Institutional Quality, Political Institutions, Market Institutions. Here is the new 2016 edition, in Spanish and English. Martín Krause is Professor of Economics and the University of Buenos Aires and a specialist in law and economics
Krause’s 2016 index of institutional quality Read More »
Raise the topic of monopolies, and the ensuing discussion will quickly highlight ideological blind-spots. A colleague with whom I’ve taught courses in business and capitalism sent to me, enthusiastically, this article by Paul Krugman, a Nobel-Prize-winning economist. Krugman attacks Amazon and calls for it to be cut down a few notches. Amazon, he says, has
Who Is Really Serious About Monopolies? [Good Life series] Read More »