News From London, Ontario, And Beyond

Small Countries Are Better: They’re Often Richer and Safer Than Big Countries

February 19, 2020 – Ryan McMaken …… Smaller countries have often been shown to perform better than large countries in terms of overall income and in economic growth. Also, their populations often enjoy more healthy and safe social environments. Continue reading →

Brexit Voters Aren’t As “Irrational” As Their Opponents Think

February 17, 2020 – Ryan McMaken …… Some anti-Brexit pundits tried to frame the Brexit debate as one of savvy economics-minded people against economic illiterates. These people missed the point. Continue reading →

Private Sector Truck Drivers Are Nepal’s Lifeline to Clean Water

February 16, 2020 – Doug French …… Government officials have repeatedly failed to deliver clean water to the people of Kathmandu. So the private sector stepped in to get the job done. Continue reading →

We Need More Housing, Not More Rent Control

February 13, 2020 – José Niño …… Blinded by their zeal to save the masses from the “excesses” of greedy landlords, politicians are ignoring the regulatory state that keeps housing prices on the rise. Continue reading →

Socialism Always Fails

February 12, 2020 – William L. Anderson …… To a socialist socialism is a moral imperative, and the only thing holding back the implementation of this system in the US has been the failure of socialists to present a plausible alternative — something that socialists claim now is being done. Continue reading →

What Year Did Healthcare Become a “Right”?

February 11, 2020 – J. Kyle DeVries …… Was healthcare a natural right two hundred years ago? If so, how is it that this “right” to eighteenth-century medicine morphed into a right to MRIs and chemotherapy? Do rights change with technology? That’s not how rights work. Continue reading →

Brexit: Predictions of Economic Doom Show Why People Ignore “Experts”

February 10, 2020 – Ryan McMaken …… Experts who predicted economic doom as Brexit approached obsessed over the problem of “transaction costs” in trade. But the EU was imposing countless new transaction costs of its own. Continue reading →

The State Owns You: The Problem with “National Service”

February 9, 2020 – Tyler Curtis …… All arguments in favor of mandatory service rest on the idea that an individual’s life belongs not to him- or herself, but to the state. Continue reading →

Why Democracy Doesn’t Give Us What We Want

February 7, 2020 – Gary M. Galles …… Uncritically holding democracy out as an ideal overlooks the question of whether market democracy or political democracy better serves citizens. Continue reading →

Secession in Virginia Would Defuse the State’s Conflict over Guns

February 6, 2020 – Ryan McMaken …… If opponents of the current ideological winds blowing in Virginia find themselves in a permanent minority, it may very well be that the only method of defending the minority position is by leaving the state. But “exit” can theoretically be obtained in more than one way. Continue reading →