Articles

Ten years ago, on February 25, the Supreme Court of the United States reminded us that maybe the Sherman Antitrust Act, the federal statute passed in 1890 intended to enforce and increase market competition, should be aimed at the only lasting anti-competitive force in the modern market economy: the government itself.

BUENOS AIRES—For years, Argentina imposed one of the world’s strictest rent-control laws. It was meant to keep homes such as the stately belle epoque apartments of Buenos Aires affordable, but instead, officials here say, rents soared.

SINCE THE Industrial Revolution, rich countries have mostly grown faster than poor ones. The two decades after around 1995 were an astonishing exception. During this period gaps in GDP narrowed, extreme poverty plummeted and global public health and education improved vastly, with a big fall in malaria deaths and infant mortality and a rise in school enrolment. Globalisation’s critics will tell you that capitalism’s excesses and the global financial crisis should define this era. They are wrong. It was defined by its miracles.

For a moment on April 9, the average U.S. tariff rate leapt to 32%, making American consumers the highest tariffed people in the world. For the next 90 days, the average U.S. tariff rate will be about 25%, which will leave Americans paying more than the citizens of any other industrialized nation, putting us in the company of Sudan and Djibouti.

On November 5, 2024, All Puerto Ricans once again faced a pivotal moment in their island's political history as we all headed to the polls for a non-binding referendum on our political status. Voters were presented with three options that could shape Puerto Rico's future: statehood, free association, or full independence. 

State occupational-licensing requirements have ballooned over the past decades to cover seemingly nonsensical professions, raising barriers to entry and costs for consumers. Ray Ball, S.P. Kothari, and Andrew Sutherland argue that the current deregulatory movement in the United States should target these regulations next.

Entrepreneurship is the key driver for economic development and innovation in any society. In this article, I share my humble perspective comparing the entrepreneurial will of Singapore and Ireland with that of Puerto Rico.

Long-suffering Argentines voted for change on Nov. 19, when they gave a landslide victory to Javier Milei, a self-proclaimed “libertarian” who brought rock-star theatrics to the political stage. Most sensationally, Milei has theatrically wielded a chainsaw to signal his intention to make serious cuts in Argentina’s bloated government.

Hayek saw in 1944 that the loss of economic freedom often leads to the denial of other freedoms.

American progressives, together with populists and nationalists on the right, argue that “every billionaire is a policy failure” and propose applying special taxes to them. But bashing the ultra-wealthy is based on flawed ideas about income inequality and sends the message that success is a dirty word.