Between 1980 and 2005, as the world embraced free market policies, living standards rose sharply, while life expectancy, educational attainment, and democracy improved and absolute poverty declined. Is this a coincidence?

A few weeks ago, my wife asked me why the U.S. doesn't make anything of value anymore. Everything, she said, is made in China or Mexico or other faraway points on the compass.

Welcome to one of the destructive side effects of the "woe is me" times we live in: Along with the legitimate and serious problems that face our economy, we seem to have convinced ourselves that... More

Attempts by governments to expand home ownership have contributed to the wider economic crisis. Should we continue to consider home ownership a public good that governments should subsidize?

What is the impact of changes in the level of taxation on economic activity? The effects are highly contractionary and stem in considerable part from a powerful negative effect of tax increases on investment.

The Obama administration wants to regulate venture capital firms to prevent systemic risks. Silicon Valley residents are scratching their heads and asking: What risks? The rest of us should ask why Washington is targeting a jewel of the American economy that had nothing to do with the housing bubble.

In the 1990s, American economists roamed the world preaching the virtues of fiscal restraint, the rule of law, free trade, and privatization. Today, those four policy pillars, once known as the Washington Consensus, are abandoned in the city that gave that consensus its name. These policies were never commandments from Mount Sinai, but they are important ingredients of long-run economic success. In a recession, putting today's... More

In a market economy, business deaths are like death itself - an unfortunate but inevitable fact of life. However, recent government bailouts have tried to stop the inevitable by intervening in the market, at least temporarily saving failed firms from the economic grim reaper. Before putting the next failed business on life support, it's worth remembering why it makes sense to let struggling producers... More

The United States has millions of homes in foreclosure, high unemployment rates, a failing General Motors, numerous insolvent banks, and unprecedented deficits. It is possibly on the brink of a second Great Depression. Yet the U.S. dollar has experienced one of its most rapid appreciations in history...America's relative decline in global affairs has been foretold many times, but it never... More

President Barack Obama took his proposed financial regulatory reforms to London this week for the G-20 meeting, while free-market advocates objected. While many of Mr. Obama's ideas warrant skepticism, conservative opposition to any expanded role for government is a mistake. There is an urgent need for a new global regulatory initiative that addresses the primary cause of the financial collapse: highly leveraged and concentrated... More

It's a "he-cession" out there and, man, it's brutal. Friday's government employment report is expected to bring bad news about job losses in a tough economy. The pain will be worse, however, for one sex more than the other. To a much greater extent than in past recessions, men are bearing the brunt.

In the four months since G20 leaders promised to try to close a deal on global trade and foreswore new trade barriers, the star-crossed Doha trade talks have collapsed and all but three of the 20 countries have implemented trade-distorting measures, according to the World Bank. G20 leaders should use their London meeting to stop the unraveling of the trading system that has spread prosperity, has lifted millions out of... More