Economics

Center on Wealth & Poverty

Prager University: What Creates Wealth?

Course Description
Why are some countries rich and some countries poor? Is it access to natural resources? Is it tax policy? A motivated work force? These are important, but not determinative. The answer is deceptively simple – it’s what’s in our heads: knowledge. Read More ›

What Creates Wealth?

Course Description Why are some countries rich and some countries poor? Is it access to natural resources? Is it tax policy? A motivated work force? These are important, but not determinative. The answer is deceptively simple – it’s what’s in our heads: knowledge. Thus, the surest way to promote economic growth is to cultivate an environment that encourages the spread Read More ›

Civilization versus barbarism

Recently, Pope Francis declared that “the persecution of Christians today is even greater than in the first centuries of the church, and there are more Christian martyrs today than in that era.” The slaughter of as many as 500,000 Christians in South Sudan since 2011 may not have received the attention it deserved. However, now the religious cleansing of Christians Read More ›

Ideas for Renewing American Prosperity

Editor’s note: With the Journal’s 125th anniversary coming at a time of slow U.S. growth and reduced expectations, we asked some Journal contributors to answer this question: If you could propose one change in American policy, society or culture to revive prosperity and self-confidence, what would it be and why? Their replies are below. Listen to Peter Drucker On Regulations Read More ›

Do You Pass the Israel Test?

Would you believe us if we said that the best litmus test of any society’s success is its attitude towards Israel? Well, it’s true. As George Gilder explains, whether a society envies and resents Israel’s success or celebrates and tries to replicate it is indicative of that society’s progress. Countries that “pass” the “Israel Test” tend to rise. Those who Read More ›

Chaos in Middle East requires action on energy independence

What has suddenly become obvious is the extent to which President Obama’s imprudent policy-making decisions have compounded problems with unintended and unacceptable consequences. Now that Iraqi and Libyan oil may be at risk of going off-line as a result of terrorist control, Obama’s recent decision to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport 1 million barrels of Read More ›

Guest column: Proposals to move toward energy independence

What has suddenly become obvious is the extent to which President Barack Obama’s imprudent policy-making decisions have compounded problems with unintended and unacceptable consequences. Now that Iraqi and Libyan oil may be at risk of going off-line as a result of terrorist control, Obama’s recent decision to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport a million barrels Read More ›

Discovery Institute fellow: EPA war on coal is unconstitutional

Just when you expect President Obama to moderate his domestic economic policies that have stifled job growth and fostered an anemic recovery following the passage of his two signature pieces of legislation — the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Affordable Care Act — it gets worse. Now, after bringing banking and healthcare — about 31 Read More ›

What the Brat nomination means for November

If the U.S. government was a parliamentary system, Barack Obama’s Democratic Party rule would have collapsed by now with a vote of no-confidence. In our Constitutional system of fixed terms and elections, there may be no clearer sign of an impending political realignment then when a respectable congressional majority leader goes down in a primary defeat to an underfunded, almost Read More ›

Did ‘Social Business’ Sink the Cardboard Bike?

A sturdy bicycle built of recycled cardboard and sold to the world’s poor for $20 apiece? This story broke in 2012, complete with a YouTube video of inventor Izhar Gafni toodling around his Israeli settlement town on a beautiful white prototype, the cardboard rendered surprisingly strong through an innovative combination of origami-style folds, glue, and varnish. But two years later, Read More ›