economy

  Investment “dark pools” have been at the center of a lengthy controversy, attracting much criticism and numerous calls for regulatory clampdowns. These private trading venues where large institutional investors execute orders outside public exchanges, more often than not with minimal oversight and without public attention, have frequently been described as opaque, destabilizing and unfair. […]

  Taxes and tariffs are—unsurprisingly—a major topic for economists. On one hand, they generate huge inefficiencies, deadweight losses, and perverse incentives; on the other hand, they reveal the fascinating creativity with which entrepreneurs find ways to avoid these costs. Sometimes in a quite amusing way. Let’s look at a few examples from not-too-distant history. Wall […]

  Prison cells are a fascinating economic laboratory, where for over a century thriving markets in goods, services, labor—and even money—have existed. Nowhere else do you find so many people craving entertainment and consumer goods, alongside so many innovative individuals willing to bend the rules to supply them. Everyday prison life also nicely illustrates how […]

  The Netherlands has long been an innovative, competitive and prosperous mid-sized European democracy. It is currently the fifth-largest economy in the European Union and the 18th-largest in the world. The Dutch consider themselves “big among the small,” holding disproportionate influence within organizations like the EU and NATO. Yet political deadlock now grips the nation; […]

    …Hayek’s writings have not dated with the years. They remain a star by which the governments of free nations everywhere would be well advised to steer their course. Margaret Thatcher Take Away As conservative Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher (October 13, 1925 – April 8, 2013) shaped the politics of the United Kingdom from […]