The Logic of Empire
Older readers may remember the 1970s and 1980s, when Czechoslovak companies built breweries, sugar refineries, textile mills, tanneries, tire factories, and a great many arms plants in African countries. Every…
Beyond GNP
I have repeatedly argued here that GDP does not measure the true strength of an economy or genuine economic development, and that we need an entirely different metric. Creating such…
After the industrial age
From an interview with the independent Russian television station Rybar: In the 1970s, the West reached the high point of its civilization, whether measured by living standards—or, more precisely, living…
Markets and Medicine
How many times have you heard that introducing more market forces into health care would lead to stronger competition, lower prices, and better quality and availability of services? There is…
The Illusion of Free Will
One of the most vexing biological and philosophical problems of recent decades is free will. We must punish violations of the rules—with all manner of sanctions, ranging from mild disapproval…
The Crisis Mentality
Hussein Mansour writes about the way a sense of crisis has become a defining feature of Muslim thought: “When a revolution fails, the conclusion is that the crisis was deeper…