Libertarianism.org Guides

Baetjer illustrates the harmful effects of economic regulations and argues that we ought to instead prefer economic liberty.

Baetjer argues that the incentives inherent in market institutions outperform the incentives inherent in state institutions in getting people to properly consider the well-being of others when they act.

The trial-and-error based profit and loss mechanism, says Baetjer, is an indispensable tool for guiding discovery and innovation in the economy.

Continuing his discussion of prices, Baetjer explains what can go wrong when outside interference prevents genuine market prices from emerging.

Prices, explains Baetjer, are a powerful tool for getting people the knowledge they need to cooperate with one another in the market.

Having discussed supply and demand separately, Baetjer explains how, together, they describe the way markets operate.

Baetjer explains the “supply” half of “supply and demand.”

Baetjer explains the “demand” half of “supply and demand.”

Building on the concept of opportunity cost, Baetjer explains how specialization and trade make us richer.

All economic behavior occurs at the margin. The decisions of economic actors are “bit by bit” decisions, not all-or-nothing ones.

Baetjer explains scarcity, the problem that any given good of finite supply can only ever be put to some of the many ends for which we might use it, and opportunity cost, the concept that taking one option costs us the benefit we would have gotten from taking the next-best option instead.

Howard Baetjer outlines some basic concepts essential to understanding economics, including the natures of wealth and economic value.

What would a libertarian society look like? Which changes in that direction are most important?

Dr. Miron briefly discusses criminal justice, intellectual property, scientific research, risk management, campaign finance, abortion, and behavioral economics.

National defense is a legitimate function of government, but military spending and the scope of military action tend to grow to excess.

Policies aimed at economic stabilization do more harm than good. Macroeconomic policy should be focused not on stabilization, but on economic growth.

There’s a plausible case, though not a fully persuasive one, for redistributing income to relieve poverty. Other forms of redistribution should be eliminated.

Government intervention has lowered the quality of medical care and made it more expensive.

Even though markets aren’t perfect, most regulations end up being counterproductive. Other regulations, like contract enforcement and rules against fraud, help.

Markets have been shown to be effective to a degree in combating certain types of discrimination. Anti-discrimination laws have drawbacks we shouldn’t ignore.

If government provides marriages, there’s no reason to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. A libertarian legal order could have a variety of marriage types.

It’s doubtful whether any government involvement in education is a net good, and it would be better for the state to finance vouchers than to run schools itself.

The policy “cures” for a variety of putative social ills—drug use, gambling, sex work, gun ownership, etc.—are worse than the “diseases” they purport to treat.

Miron’s “Consequential Libertarianism” holds that on a rigorous, broad understanding, the costs of restricting liberty outweigh the benefits.

Brennan discusses the intersection of political philosophy and political economy in this conclusion to our Guide.

Are sweatshops a least-bad choice for the third world? Brennan applies the foregoing discussion of political philosophy to the case of labor ethics.

What are the economic and moral cases for allowing more immigration? Do immigrant workers depress native wages? Do they sully native culture? Commit more crime?

Is democracy a means to an end, or is it valuable in itself? Jason Brennan discusses democracy and voting.

Jason Brennan examines a key question in political philosophy: what, if anything, is the difference between the government and ordinary people?

The libertarian philosopher Robert Nozick offered important criticisms of pattern-based theories of distributive justice and offered his own alternative framework.

Jason Brennan explains the political thought of John Rawls, one of the key figures in modern political philosophy.

Jason Brennan considers property rights: what they are, what justifies them, and what sorts of social problems they help avoid.

Jason Brennan discusses what rights are and contrasts rights-based thinking about ethics with utilitarian thinking.

What does “liberty” mean in a philosophical context? Jason Brennan parses out how the word is used.

The final course in this curriculum examines the rebirth of libertarian thought from the 1940s onward.

This audio course explores the contributions made to the understanding of liberty by the “Austrian” economists, mainly Ludwig von Mises and F. A. Hayek.

This audio course shows how classical liberalism developed in Europe and America in the nineteenth century.

William Lloyd Garrison said that slavery violates the fundamental right of all individuals to be free, and he dedicated his life to abolishing the practice.

Henry David Thoreau sought to live as a wholly free person in a world that was not wholly free. Learn more about his life in this audio course.

This course explores Mary Wollstonecraft’s arguments for the equal treatment of men and women by the state.

This course discusses the issues of equal rights, especially with reference to the flourishing of individuality and pluralism in a free society.

This module explains the background and meaning of each of the amendments in the Bill of Rights, as well as the debates over their ratification.

The historical background to the United States Constitution, the text of the Constitution itself, and the struggle over its ratification are discussed in detail.

This course continues the introduction of Adam Smith’s investigations of the natural laws of exchange in light of the “marginal revolution” of the 1870s.

This lesson in the Cato Home Study Course introduces The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith’s inquiry into the beneficial consequences of voluntary exchange.