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News
Recent posts and articles from IGEG fellows, advisers, experts and scholars.
Alice in Wonderland Economics Central bank policies have turned the global economy upside down
What the world’s major central banks have been doing is not working. Rather than go back to the tried and true, they are now digging in deeper on policies that are bound to fail, such as the move to negative interest rates, which many will find personally harmful. The...
Regaining Ground from Government Pushing back the Executive Branch halts the spread of tyranny
This past week, a majority of the members of the Supreme Court gave notice that there is a limit to how much of their and Congress power they will allow the executive branch to grab. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been expanding its own definitions of...
Language, Labels and Laws 'Progressive' now means the opposite of its classical definition
What does a "progressive" stand for? How does this differ from what a liberal, conservative or libertarian stands for? More so than in most years, the presidential candidates are debating about labels. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders got into an argument last week...
Double Standards for Officialdom How bureaucrats hide for misdeeds that would jail private citizens
A major reason for the growing distrust of government is the double standard whereby government officials and employees often suffer no consequences from incompetence, misbehavior and even criminal violations of the law. In the common law, there is a general principle...
Socialism Means Coercion Too few Americans understand the dangers of unlimited government
Do you know what socialism is? Hillary Clinton struggled to find an answer when recently asked. Socialism is a system in which the government owns or controls the means of production, and allocates resources and rewards. Sen. Bernie Sanders proudly proclaims himself a...
The Recession of 2016 Central bank bungles, oil price fluctuations and over-regulation indicate contraction
There will be a recession in the United States and much of the rest of the world in 2016. After reading the above sentence, you should be thinking, what possibly could the writer know that the International Monetary Fund, the Federal Reserve and the Obama...
Unmentioned Debate Issues 'Gotcha' questions must give way to questions about governing philosophy
Do you know what type of person the various presidential candidates would appoint to the Supreme Court? The next president is likely to be able to pick several Supreme Court justices, and those decisions will influence the direction of the American republic for...
Tax Follies for 2016 It's elementary economics that higher taxes don't always mean more revenue
If McDonald's suddenly cuts the price of its French fries in half, would its store profits fall or rise? If the price cut caused more people to come to its stores and spend more on other items, such as Big Macs, revenues and profits might rise, provided that...
A Rational Forecast for 2016 Economic and nuclear threats are likely to grind on
The economist and philosopher F.A. Hayek warned us about the limits to knowledge and forecasting. What we do know, however, based on past behavior is that some future events have a much higher probability of occurring than others — so, now for 2016: There will be a...
Christmas Works Peace and prosperity reign where there is tolerance
Why do billions of people, Christians and non-Christians alike, look forward to Christmas? It is a holiday that makes almost all children, and most adults, happy. Globally, it has evolved into a non-threatening holiday that non-Christians can embrace with good cheer....
Life, Liberty and the Killer State Americans have much more to fear than terrorism
The chance of dying in a terrorist attack in any year in the United States is less than one in a million (even including the terrible attack of the approximately 3,000 killed on Sept. 11, 2001). Many in the media over-hype the chances of dying in a terrorist attack...
Knowledge that Isn’t Public trust declines when experts tell whoppers
When you hear politicians speak (the president or members of Congress) and they tell you that the science or facts are settled, do you tend to believe them or treat their comments with skepticism? Those who survey such things show that faith in government and...
Saving Honduras The creation of free economic enclaves promises much needed growth
Why has Honduras lagged behind its neighbors and much of the rest of the world? It is resource-rich, has deep-water ports both on the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, is very scenic and, because of its mountain terrain, has sub-climates that meet most people's...
A Bounty of Good News Human progress enables the average person to live a richer, healthier life
Your Thanksgiving dinner is going to be less expensive. This year the average person will need to work 2 hours, 21 minutes and 57 seconds to pay for all the items in a standard Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people — a work reduction of one minute and 8 seconds from last...
Bad News for Savers The government holds down interest rates for its own benefit
Do not expect to get a higher real rate of interest on your savings — ever. Traditionally, people could expect to receive 2 or 3 percent more than the rate of inflation on their savings or money market accounts. For instance, if inflation was 2 percent, many people...
The Global Taxers Are After You What happened to ‘no taxation without representation’?
Are you aware that the American government has been slowly giving away its power to international bureaucrats to determine how its businesses and citizens are taxed? Most wars do not turn out the way the people who started them intended. Setting aside the hot military...
Squandering Economic Freedom Nations that forsake free markets also endanger civil and personal liberties
There was good news for Argentina last week. It was expected that Daniel Scioli, the Peronist candidate and political heir of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, would win the presidential election. Much to most people's surprise, Maurico Macri, the more...
Saving Puerto Rico The causes and remedies for mounting debt are clear
Ultimately, if you continue to spend more than you take in — whether you are an individual, business or government — there will be a day of reckoning. Puerto Rico is likely to reach that day by Dec. 1. Back in June, the governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro Garcia...