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Common Sense Economics

Henry Ford Did More for Workers than Unions Did

January 9, 2020 – Chris Calton …… In the early 20th century, Henry Ford’s factories had a hard time keeping workers because the work was monotonous. In a successful effort to retain workers, Ford doubled their pay, reduced their hours, and provided vacation time and other benefits that are now considered typical. Continue reading →

We Don’t Need Sunday “Blue Laws”

December 10, 2019 – Ryan McMaken …… The reason businesses open on Sunday is due to bottom-up pressure from consumers, not top-down conniving on the part of management. As much as some people would prefer otherwise, the fact is we live in a society where most people see no problem at all with going to the movies or shoe shopping on Sunday. Business owners merely respond by attempting to meet this demand. Continue reading →

Intellectual Property as the New Guild System

November 28, 2019 – Frank Hollenbeck …… The standard justification for intellectual property — i.e., patents and copyrights and trademarks — is that the creative process would be significantly reduced if such protection did not exist. But did inventors or artists starve before IP laws? The answer is no because they benefited from the first-to-market advantage. Continue reading →