Now, every time a woman is asked to serve on a board of directors, she will wonder whether she is being chosen based on her skills, or because the company in question wants to avoid having to pay a government fine. This is not gender equality.

The Federal Reserve's sacred 2% inflation target is now supported by a 2% Fed Funds rate. Unfortunately the 2% GDP growth new normal isn't playing nice, coming in at 4%. Innovation and economic freedom are the fly in the econometric ointment.

“Someone” must be to blame for unequal distribution of incomes. Therefore, they must be punished. Their property must be involuntarily transferred to others.

Americans are more inclined to found companies than the people of other countries and are also better at turning small companies into giant ones. The U.S. was the first country to make it easy to create companies without going cap in hand to local bureaucrats who had a right to tell them what to do.

The Nobel Prize confers on an individual an authority which in economics no man ought to possess.

Pretending to use concepts of justice to limit individual achievement Is simply the ideology of socialism: to achieve total control over society because the governing elites believe it is in their power to design and determine future outcomes.

Economists should hang their heads in shame. They believe that economic growth causes inflation. Such a view isn’t serious, and is more realistically dangerous. Inflation is easily the greatest enemy of growth.

To put America back on a prosperous path that would also potentially lead to lower recidivism rates, it is imperative that we remove barriers to opportunity and reform occupational licensing laws so that those who are willing to work are able to do so.

One thing is for certain, however, no matter how many fines and regulations are instituted, the incentive to earn money overpowers the threat of government force. And Miami Beach residents are proving that the sharing economy market will not be stopped.

The federal government does not think consumers are capable of making informed decisions, or so its labeling policies would imply.

In 2016, Washington residents voted to increase the minimum wage incrementally from $9.47 an hour to $13.50 an hour by 2020. For Advent Lutheran Child Center in Spokane Valley, the minimum wage increase meant an inevitable increase in tuition costs, which has left many parents shocked and concerned.

Entrepreneurs will find ways to disrupt every industry -- it’s simply a matter of time. The lingering question is whether organizations will embrace the evolution or fight tooth and nail to avoid change. Disruption might be an inevitability, but industries that stubbornly stick to the old way of doing things are only making the process more painful.

The word entrepreneur is thrown around a lot in casual conversation. But do most of us really understand what it means?

So next time you find yourself stepping on a stray Lego left on the floor, pause before getting angry, and think about the journey that little brick has gone through to get from Billund, Denmark to the floor of our American homes. By constantly striving for excellence, utilizing specialization, and becoming creative storytellers, Lego has proven itself relevant in the digital era. 

The right-to-work movement has cause for celebration, as last week’s landmark decision by the Supreme Court has ushered in a new era of freedom of association, signaling the end of an era of union intimidation. In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Mark Janus, in the case of Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Ocasio-Cortez can complain about capitalism all she wants, but until she is willing to give up her Uber rides, it is unlikely that she will be taken seriously.

It seems like the real problem here is that Amazon success has made many progressives feel as if they are entitled to some of its profits.

It doesn’t matter if you are an artist, a judge, or a cashier. What really matters is that you pour your heart into your work and do the best possible job that you can.

There are two roads to take when a major corporation is faced with a diversity fueled media backlash. They can cower to the pressure of politically expediency or they can take a stand for the virtues that made them successful in the first place, and differentiate their brand in an even more positive way.

More and more the value of a college degree is dwindling. And this is a good thing. Recently, Apple announced that it will join 14 other major employers in dropping the college degree requirement for job applicants.

It is likely that China will not be the only government to take such extreme measures against crypto-related activities, but just because we receive pushback from the powers that be does not mean we should abandon our quest altogether.

Forcibly taking money from one source in order to give it to another is not benevolence, no matter how great the cause in question may be. And while many leftists do not agree with this premise, they also do not like when their favorite products are altered thanks to taxation. 

Unfortunately, other countries do not take kindly to trade barriers being arbitrarily placed on imported goods. And in many instances, when these types of policies are instituted, foreign countries respond by creating their own tariffs on American goods in retaliation. This is exactly what is happening now. The European Union is moving forward with new tariffs targeted at denim, orange juice, bourbon, motorcycles, peanut butter, motorboats, and cigarettes.

There is almost nothing the sharing economy cannot provide for the consumer. From inexpensive rides and cheap short-term lodging alternatives to food delivery and even puppies on demand, this organic market force has become a huge source of convenience in our lives.

Efficiency, effectiveness and financial and business performance no longer have anything to do with size or scale. The entire economics of scale have changed. What we learned in school no longer applies. We need to unlearn it if we are to have any hope of understanding the future.

The state of California claims that unregulated competition hurts the restaurant industry and those who have obtained all the proper permits. However, individuals engaging in voluntary exchanges have every right to take those risks if that is their prerogative. Government-issued permits do not ensure safety. If they did, there would be zero incidences of food contamination or food poisoning at restaurants.

In 1517, Martin Luther challenged the incumbent system of the world. Today, there is another fundamental system under challenge: the credentialism of higher education

Entrepreneurs are theorists of the future. Theories are counterfactual. They are not based on data or research. They can’t be, because you can’t research what doesn’t exist. Theories open up previously unseen paths.

We need not go around banning everything to obtain the world we want to live in. By using market forces to encourage behavior we stand a better chance and really creating substantial change.

As we contemplate the consequences that such protectionist policies may have on our modern economy, we would be wise to take a sober look at history. For if we take a closer look at the causes that led to, and prolonged, the Great Depression, we will find that tariffs played a most important and destructive role.

I’m not alone in my love for this fatty beverage. “Bulletproof coffee,” as it’s called, has become a huge dietary trend over the last few years. But for Wisconsin residents who share my love of rich, full-fat, butter coffee, buying Kerrygold grass-fed butter within state lines just became a difficult and illegal act.

Entrepreneurs are individuals with novel theories about the future. Theorizing is not the mere processing of existing data. It’s not analytical (that’s what machines do). It’s uniquely creative. It’s an act of supposing, conceiving and considering new possibilities.

If cities like Portland and Seattle are not more careful, they will start to see big businesses flee their cities so as to avoid having to deal with these burdensome taxes.

Stanislav Petrov was working the overnight shift on September 26, 1983 when he inadvertently saved the world from nuclear war. Today he serves as a reminder that one individual can make an enormous difference.

There is this belief that by intervening and implementing the New Deal, FDR saved Americans from the depths of the Great Depression. But in fact, the opposite was true. FDR’s New Deal actually prolonged the Depression and made it far worse than it otherwise would have been.

A governing body that tries to control an entire economy will soon find they do not have enough knowledge or insight to do so. As Hayek reminds us, “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”

While the last article addressed the concept of the knowledge problem and how Wales had specifically set out to solve this problem. But in addition to making information accessible to all those who seek it, Wales also incorporated another aspect of Hayekian economics when he created Wikipedia: spontaneous order.

People make decisions based on the values they hold most dear. Those might be family values related to happiness, health and economic security. Or they may be the achievement ethics of hard work and duty. Or they may be broader values regarding helping others, or even saving the world through charity and conservation. All the economic choices people make are shaped by their values.

For charitable individuals, giving back to their communities should not be an act that is tightly regulated by government entities. Instead, these volunteers should be met with open arms and positivity from state entities, rather than being demonized unless they have first sought the government’s seal of approval.

To fully understand why the Great Depression began, and why it lasted so long, it is important to consider the many different factors that contributed to this economic downturn of historical proportions. In this first part of the series, we will focus on understanding the Austrian business cycle and the role it played in the crash of 1929.

If children are scared to take risks because they fear they may have to deal with police officers, then we have most certainly veered from our country’s original emphasis on the entrepreneur.

America slowly but surely lost her sense of robust private ownership, the soul of a free society. It happened through the tax and regulatory state, jettisoning economic substantive due process, absurd readings of the Commerce Clause, and through the creation of wildly extra-constitutional administrative agencies.

People study the nature of things to understand possibilities and manage risk. The currency of the scientist, economist, and entrepreneur is reality. Complex systems like cancer are being confronted with a new network of enemies armed with and old theorem.

The emergence of a managerial class was aimed at eliminating the influence of owners and shareholders. Much of the industry that has grown up around managerial processes, "strategy", consulting and business school studies is just an accumulation of additional managerial costs and expanded managerial staffing, with no consumer value.

The decision to launch Paving for Pizza was born out of an unmet demand in the marketplace. The government was failing to meet the needs of drivers on the road, which in turn was inhibiting Domino’s ability to live up to its promise of offering quality products to its consumers.

All in all, this technology is allowing individuals to live a more free, decentralized life, which is truly the key to individualism.

As consumers of knowledge, we can no longer be passive. Knowing is a practice at which we can each improve our capability. Knowledge entrepreneurs are creating new ways of developing, diffusing, and using knowledge, and devices are giving us new means of access and engagement.

The student loan crisis is a serious issue in this country, especially for the many Millennials struggling to make monthly student loan payments. It is currently estimated that 70 percent of all Americans graduating with bachelor’s degrees will leave college with a burden of debt on their shoulders. Left with the prospect of making student loan payments for years after they finish their degrees, many students are looking for new avenues to fund their education that does not require federal student loans.

Victor Hugo asks, "Who set cold white panes in place of that stained glass of gorgeous hue? An architect, on the plea of good taste, amputated it." And one might also ask, what has become of the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution, the one that guarantees federalism? Our progressive masters, on the plea of the common good, amputated it.

Interestingly enough, the closure of China Fun coincided with the implementation of New York’s new increased minimum wage policy, which is set to incrementally rise each year until it reaches $15 an hour by 2021. As Albert Wu, the son of China Fun owners Dorothea and Felix Wu explained, these types of costly mandates have forced the restaurant to significantly raise its prices over the years.

The forthcoming series, Hardfork is unlike any other series around today. Set in a dystopian future, the series incorporates blockchain and cryptocurrencies into its storyline. The series tells the story of a radical group of rebels who utilize blockchain technology in order to hack the powers that be in order to bring the entire system down. But its content alone isn’t what makes it so spectacular. Hardfork is also the first series whose funding is being raised solely in cryptocurrency.  

This analysis also makes it clear that the policy outcomes will not change when different individuals are elected. The same voting mechanisms and the same bureaucratic response to special interest influence will prevail. There’s no point to throwing the bums out. Democracy itself is a sham.

As new technology emerges, there is always less of a need, and thus less consumer demand, for older and outdated models. The carriage was replaced by the car, manual labor was replaced by industrial machinery, the typewriter was replaced by the computer, and Blockbuster Video was replaced by Netflix. The key thing to remember is that with each of these innovative changes, the consumer won by gaining access to better goods and services.

All actions have consequences, and when those actions are meant to control the economy, the consequences can have far reaching implications. In his essay “What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen,” French economist Frédéric Bastiat explained that all government actions have consequences that are both immediately seen, and also consequences that are unseen.

Airbnb has completely changed the way we think about travel. And while the Silicon Valley brainchild has become a household name over the last several years, you might be surprised to learn that a custom seat cushion played an integral role in the story of Airbnb’s founding.

Blockchain technology is completely changing the world for the better.

Just as a capital good’s price point in a free market would be based on its marginal productivity, in wrestling, pay is based on the character’s popularity with the audiences and their ability to sell merchandise, which, at the end of the day is making more money for the company.

Without crypto pioneers like Beccy and Austin, Bitcoin would have never obtained the level of success it already has. It takes individuals, and the communities those individuals make up to change hearts and minds.

As the blockchain begins to be embraced by more people, it is opening up a new frontier for entrepreneurs. The 4th Pillar is just one of many organizations that have identified a way in which the blockchain can be used to make our lives easier and more efficient. 

Historically, April 15th has been the day that Americans dread all year long. And while most of us were relieved at the prospect of having a few extra days to worry about getting our taxes filed this year, few of us bothered to ask why tax day had been moved.

Everyone of us has a hierarchy of needs. When we feel good about what we have attained at one level, we can move up to the next, and tackle something greater – a higher value. The entrepreneur can take the consumer on that journey to higher and higher values. It’s a collaborative climb to the top.

The real bosses are the consumers. They, by their buying and by their abstention from buying, determine what should be produced and in what quantity and quality.

Freedom now means freedom from want, equality means equality of outcomes, and progress means political correctness. That’s how today’s social justice warriors have been taught to think. That they allow themselves to be mobilized so easily is evidence of their fealty to their postmodernist masters.

Connections-in-action can generate all kinds of innovative progress: great art, new music, new literature, new ways to teach humanities, or new ways to evolve institutions.

All the advantages entrepreneurs enjoy as individual economic actors can now be augmented. We all have far more individual economic power than we cold ever have imagined.

Hierarchies are power structures in which you don’t have any power. To join a hierarchy is to abase oneself. Replace hierarchical power relationships by quality of connection in networks of your choice. How much value are you giving and how much are you getting in return?

When humans are left to their own devices amazing things happen. We need to trust in our ability to work together without government interference, just like my classmates trusted their ability to play a soccer without ushering in the end of the world.

This “citizen score,” as it is called would essentially act like a credit score on steroids, limiting your ability to make choices for yourself. This plan is already well on its way to building this social credit system to rate China’s 1.3 billion citizens.

In a world where government regulations make it increasingly difficult to start companies, young Americans have used technology to get ahead in the business world. One of the means which has allowed Millennials to make use of their entrepreneurial spirit is “crowdfunding."

It has become increasingly hard for middle-class Americans to get financially ahead in our current economic climate. Single-income households are not as common as they used to be and almost everyone is looking for a side hustle. Many people are asking themselves: why not choose cryptoassets?

Is it possible to live the entrepreneurial life when employed by a firm? Yes (despite what Taleb believes) because the entrepreneurial life is an attitude and a style and a way of managing the future that you can bring to any context.

For several years, Dr. Josh Umbehr has been sending emails to Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos every other week. An admitted “fanboy,” of Bezos and his successful business endeavors, Umbehr believes Amazon has the potential to completely change the way consumers purchase prescription drugs.

There is not a single trade that is not governed by legislation, bureaucratic rule making, taxes, tariffs or subsidies or political adjustments of some kind. No boat can sale, no plane can fly, no truck can deliver without political permission. Giant global bureaucracies make sure that not a single transaction can be made without a specific permission within their rule making.

Who am I? What do I believe? What are my values? These are the questions entrepreneurs ask of themselves before they embark on any kind of project. Who do I want to help? How can I understand their need?

Annie Duke credits the empirical, dispassionate habits of mind instilled by “thinking in bets” with opening up new learning opportunities.

Fortunately, thanks to the technological advances we have seen during our lifetimes there are now alternatives to earning a four-year degree that might actually help you get ahead in the job market while saving time and money.

Entrepreneurs are creative. They find new ideas, either in their own heads or from others. They will gather and assess all the ideas, test the ones with most promise, measure the outcomes, and advance the ones with best results.

Where the state and the correctional system it created has failed to rehabilitate former convicts, the private sector has succeeded in lower recidivism through entrepreneurship.

A real push is also necessary in the economics trade itself. The most important step to put markets where they belong—in first place in the economic discussion. The greatest hope lies in the fostering of new institutions that will, in turn, nurture economics thinkers who dare to acknowledge the merits of markets.

As the new year gets underway, why not make a goal to read more about the essential economic principles.

Selgin explains that Hayek, “believed that the general level of output prices should be allowed to vary in response to changes in factor productivity, falling in response to both anticipated and unanticipated improvements in productivity, and rising in response to any productivity setback."

Having set a goal to read all the economic classics I never got around to, Mises’ Liberalism was high on my reading list. Utterly exhausted yet intrigued after liveblogging F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom, I was ready for a change of writing style while still exploring the roots of classical liberalism.

Teenagers are individuals just like adults, and unless they are treated as such, we cannot expect them to magically transform into responsible humans on their eighteenth birthdays.

Intrigued by the wisdom I gained from Hayek and determined to keep my momentum and excitement for reading economic texts, I made the decision to tackle another economic philosopher: Ludwig von Mises.

Spontaneous order is the belief that when individuals are left to their own devices, they will organically create order out of chaos.

The smartphone generation found a way to improve both the quality and cost of the services historically rendered by the cab industries.

There are innumerable reasons to oppose any continuation or escalation of the American occupation of Afghanistan. But disregarding the most important deterrent, the loss of human life, and even more specifically, innocent civilian life, there is one economic principle that screams out from the text of a recent Trump’s speech on America’s involvement in Afghanistan: The sunk cost fallacy.

There can be no denying the important role that F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom has played on the study of free market economics. And while the book is responsible for swaying public opinion and presenting an alternative to centrally planned economies, the book was written in such a way that may be hard for many modern readers to comprehend. And many suspect that Hayek may have actually intended the book to be this way.

The income tax completely destroys the immunity of property. It flatly declares a prior right of the State to all things produced.

The lessons that can be learned from F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom are so numerous it would be almost impossible to list them all. But after taking the time to dive into this classic piece of economic literature, I compiled a list of what I consider to be the most important lessons one can learn while strolling down The Road to Serfdom.

When I decided to read and live-blog The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek, I will admit I did not fully understand what I had signed up to do. Reading excerpts from the book is one thing, but endeavoring to read the book in its entirety and also write my accompanying thoughts was an entirely different feat altogether.

To most people, an “anything goes” approach on the road seems crazy, to say the least. And why shouldn’t it?Cars weigh thousands of pounds and once moving at high speeds are essentially large deathtraps all charging towards each other. On its own, this concept is concerning enough without having to imagine what would happen in the absence of all traffic signals. How would cars know when to stop and when to go?

Throughout the last three chapters of The Road to Serfdom, I have found myself questioning whether or not I am reading the same book as I was before. In chapters 1-11, Hayek went from being an economist to a philosopher, to a historian. But in chapter twelve, “The Socialist Roots of Naziism,” Hayek takes on the role of biographer.

Every so often, stories of outrageous surge pricing in the ridesharing industry make their way around the internet. As these stories typically go, a rider was shocked upon reaching their final destination to find that they were charged sometimes hundreds of dollars for a trip that might normally cost $20-30.

The sunk cost fallacy is one economic principle that doesn't require charts or graphs to understand. In fact, examples of it exist all around us.

The new norm may be something like “Make yourself as uniquely useful as you can as a collaborator with other knowledgeable actors” and may result in institutionalized education, institutionalized professions, and institutionalized jobs withering away to be replaced with totally new forms.

In the wake of natural disasters, mainstream economists love to perpetuate the myth that unnecessary destruction is somehow good for the national economy.

The entrepreneurial individual is the one best equipped to navigate a pathway through the changing world of work, revenue streams and economic opportunities. Follow these guideposts.

When this famous Hollywood actor attempted to open his own whiskey distillery, he was met by a maze of government red tape.

When it comes to innovative Millennials trying to start new businesses, government regulations are keeping these entrepreneurs from getting ahead.

Super-connecting is the new metaphor of entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur today is an orchestrator, a super-connector of knowledge, technology, collaborators and capital. All of these inputs are available in real time as a result of today’s technologies.

Heather Kokesch Del Castillo was unsatisfied with her career.…

Economists seem to believe that life should be conducted in a…

Here at https//:centerforindividualism.org, we certainly believe that the emerging technologies of cloud computing, global exchange platforms, artificial intelligence and blockchain can augment individual capabilities and release us from collectivism and dependent relationships on governments and corporations. However, we also recognize that, in the hands of bad actors, there are modern technologies that can be employed for the opposite purpose: the subjection of individuals.

Whether you advocate some form of socialism or express nationalist sympathies, both are contrary to the spirit of individualism. Both claim to advance freedom but inevitably lead down the road to serfdom.

Millennials are shaking up traditional industries and refusing to conduct business as usual. As a result, our economy is becoming more specialized and better able to cater to the unique interests of the individual.

Everyone follows their own individual conscience. Everyone is free to try their best, to see what they can achieve. No-one is qualified to pass judgment on others' capacities or what they can do.

Treating the economy as demand driven is placing the cart before the horse. It is easily done if one does not have a conception of what entrepreneurs do, as is commonly the case in modern economics.

Parents are fed up. As mass schooling becomes more restrictive, more standardized and more far-reaching into a child’s young life, many parents are choosing alternatives.

Individualism is nothing new. Though it may be less familiar…