Teaching Freedom at Def. American Dream

Teaching Economic Freedom: Ideas and

Resources

Gregory Rehmke Economic Thinking • [email protected]

Saturday, November 5, 11

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Notes on Freedom Organizations

• Many pro-market groups supporting: Activism, Public Policy research, and Economic Education.

• I have worked with the Foundation for Economic Education, Reason Foundation, and other education organizations.


Teaching Tomorrow’s Idea Leaders

• Explaining and discussing the key role of economic freedom takes time.

• Teachers and students have time.

• Some have self-selected to influence others: teachers, student leaders, students on school paper, or in speech and debate.


For Teachers and StudentsEffective education groups with

programs and resources for teachers.

• Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship

• Foundation for Teaching Economics (fte.org)

• Izzit.org/FreetoChoose.tv

• StosselintheClassroom.org

• Acton Institute/Media, PovertyCure.org


www.billofrightsinstitute.org

fte.org

Sife.org

www.nfte.com/

Students in Free Enterprise


http://www.billofrightsinstitute.org/


http://www.nfte.com/


fte.org

www.nfte.com/





www.nfte.com




www.ten9eight.com


http://www.ten9eight.com/

http://www.ten9eight.com/

Bill of Rights Institute

www.BillofRightsInstitute.org

Students in Free Enterprise

SIFE.org






PovertyCure.org • Acton.org • Izzit.org


www.PovertyCure.orgSaturday, November 5, 11

http://www.PovertyCure.org

http://www.PovertyCure.org

www.StosselintheClassroom.org


http://www.StosselintheClassroom.org


www.StosselintheClassroom.org





www.FreetoChooseMedia.orgwww.FreetoChoose.tv

www.MiltonFriedmansCentury.org


http://www.freetochoosemedia.org




http://www.miltonfriedmanscentury.org/

http://www.miltonfriedmanscentury.org/

FreeToChoose.net


http://freetochoose.net/

http://freetochoose.net/

Poverty to prosperity in Arrival Cities

www.CalloftheEntrepreneur.com


http://www.calloftheentrepreneur.com/

http://www.calloftheentrepreneur.com/

Triumph of the Cityor, Call of the Entrepreneur for Ben, the Luggage Boy Entrepreneurs in the exchange economies of cities create and coordinate economic prosperity. Around the world 350 cities with over a million residents have recently joined the world economy. Opportunity draws the rural poor into these cities where they can join the global workforce. Sound legal institu-tions are key, as are honesty, savings, and self-improvement.

Through the 1800s hundreds of thousands of young people were drawn from the countryside to New York City and to other American cities. Then, railroads lowered transportation costs to the ports of Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and steam-ships lowered theAtlantic crossing. Millions of Europeans mi-grated from Europe to American cities, moving from where land was relatively scarce to where labor was relatively scarce and wages higher. Millions stayed in fast expanding cities, and millions more moved on to the develop farms and populate the cities across the American west (as brought to life in the corny but wonderful movie, book, and TV series, How the West Was Won).What was life like for the millions of migrants entering New York City’s “golden door” in the 1800s? Horatio Alger, Jr.’s many popular novels for young people drew from the actual stories re-lated to Alger in interviews with New York City bootblacks, errand boys, and luggage “smashers.” Alger’s “rags to riches” novels were eagerly read by millions of Americans over the following dec-ades. Most of us have heard of “Horatio Alger stories,” but not many ever actually read one.A few months ago I read my first: Ragged Dick or Street Life in New York with the Bootblacks, a popular Horatio Alger, Jr. novel still in print. This short novel is brings to life 1860s street scenes in a smaller but still vibrant New York City. Written for young people, Alger's novels are engaging, realistic, fun, and fascinat-

ing. They tell stories that ring true for all times and places. Success is never easy or sure, and progress depends on the simple virtues of honesty, self-denial, savings, and self-improvement. People know each other face-to-face in rural towns and villages, and are familiar with each other’s reputation and character. But daily life in the city turns on exchanges with strangers whose character and reputation are unknown. In the village, daily life turns on a few dozen family members and friends working with each other

exchanging goods, services, and favors. But in cities cash and credit are king, and markets coordinate the complex exchanges among hundreds of thou-sands of strangers each day. City people don’t know more about the world (they usually know far less of life outside the city), but what they do know is more finely divided into skills distributed among dozens or hundreds across enterprises, factories, and indus-tries. This deeper division of labor and wider scope of trade allows marvel-ously complicated operations, from the design and assembly of watches, bicycles, and buildings, to the management and opera-tion of factories and textiles mills. The progressive power of cities pushing specialization, produc-tion, and exchange lifted living standards in western Europe for centuries. But such dynamic cities never fully developed in Russia, Asia and India. Why? Institutional financial restraints

slowed large enterprises in the Islamic world too (see Timur Kuran’s book The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East). Since the fall of communism in Eastern and Southern Europe, the former USSR, and China, plus the shift from socialism in India and much of Africa, millions worldwide have streamed to fast-expanding cities. Lacking economic free-dom and rule of law institutions, wealth creation in cities of the developing world has been slower than it could have been. But in recent decades technology advances reducing the price of food, transportation, and clothing have partially com-pensated.Edward Glaeser in Triumph of the City com-

ments that there is "a lot to like" about the shanty towns of the developing world. These seem terrible places for homeless families, and for the homeless without families, but compared to what? Compared to the reality of rural poverty in the developing world, urban poverty turns out to be an im-provement for most. A Manhattan Institute review claims: “Even the worst cities–Kinshasa, Kolkata, Lagos–confer surpris-ing benefits on the people who flock to them, including better health and more jobs than the rural areas that surround them.”It is very, very good news for the coming decades that hundreds of millions of people are finding a path to prosperity that often begins by looking for work in cities. Michael Cox asked us to imagine a few people dropped into a jungle, and just one had a machete. That tool, a like the key labor-saving technologies of Western Europe, allowed for path to be cut through the jungle much more quickly. But, Cox notes, when other societies find that path, they can run to catch up even more quickly. China, India, and Indonesia need not suffer through the decades of heavily pollution “dark satanic mills” and can instead gain from advance light industry developed by foreign capital and exper-tise. And when the developing world is finally allowed access to

[draft, March 21, 2011 - Greg Rehmke]

Page 1Saturday, November 5, 11



Africa Enterprises, Resources, and ProsperityA Continent rich with minerals and oil has long lacked the economic freedom that would allow its people—Africa’s Ultimate Resource— access to the world economy. E c o n o m i c T h i n k i n g / M a c k i n a c C e n t e r A f r i c a & P u b l i c H e a l t h S t u d y G u i d e S u m m e r 2 0 0 7

B o o k s • A r t i c l e s • D o c u m e n t a r i e s • M o v i e s • O n l i n e v i d e o • W e b s i t e s

Africa’s Ultimate Resource Economic Development in Africa is big news. From the Vanity Fair special Africa issue guest-edited by U2’s Bono to Time and Na-tional Geographic cover stories. African conflict, poverty, and public health problems invigorate celebrities as well as journalists, economists, and young people. A recent high school debate topic on public heath in Africa gave tens of thousands of students an unique opportunity to research behind headlines and celebrity photo shoots. Africa’s development and public health prob-lems have long been linked to the legacy of slav-ery and colonialism. Rich countries have moved on to “modern” public health problems like smoking, overeating, and over-medication. But in Africa, cooking smoke, unclean water, malnu-trition, and disease are the central public health problems, as they had been through recorded history across the world until recent centuries. Public health problems go back as far as civili-zation. But organized, science-based efforts to provide clean water, remove wastes, and reduce infectious diseases are much newer. That history has been sometimes tragic as leading health ex-

perts of one generation oppose insights and in-novations from younger researchers. Ignaz Semmelweis, a young doctor in Vienna, was put in charge of two hospital maternity wards where he could observe midwives deliv-ered babies in one, and “modern” doctors deliv-ering in the other. Leading doctors at the time (1841) were dismissive of midwives and their traditional hand-washing before delivering ba-bies. Semmelweis saw 20 percent of babies deliv-ered by doctors die of fever (puerperal sepsis) and much lower death rate with midwives. He estab-lished procedures for doctors to wash their hands and mortality rates quickly dropped by two-thirds. Angry doctors considered it foolish mysticism to believe something invisible could cause disease. They fired Semmelweis, who was later committed to an insane asylum and died there (of an infection). Such tragedies are not unique in the history of medicine and public health. The widespread use of quinine to treat malaria was delayed for cen-turies. Effective treatment of tuberculosis with drugs was vigorously opposed by TB experts of the day who ran sanitariums. Even today there are disputes over public health issues such as

bed nets vs. indoor DDT spraying to re-duce malaria in Africa. Debates over what insti-tutions should deal with public health and eco-nomic develop-ment continue. Today, public health advocates in the U.S. call for government to restrict teenage diets to less fatty foods and fewer sugared colas. Fatty foods and overweight people are, of course, not the public health problems of African coun-tries. Africans are astonished to hear that being overweight is perhaps the leading indicator of health problems for Americans. But consider this discussion from public health historian George Rosen: “The protection and promotion of health and welfare of its citi-zens is considered to be one of the most impor-tant functions of the modern state.” Rosen writes

E C O N O M I C T H I N K I N G

Africa: Enterprises, Resources, and Prosperity 1

Fighting the Diseases of Poverty

Edited by Philip Stevens

Fighting the Diseases of PovertyHow does economic globalisation affect health? Why is access tomedicines in many poor countries so low? Why, despite record levelsof spending, are intergovernmental efforts to fight disease soineffectual? In this book, a collection of experts address these andother questions, showing that:

• Human health has been improvingglobally since the mid 18th Century andhealth inequalities between countries –with a few exceptions – are decreasing.

• As a result, the populations of poorercountries are ageing and their burden ofdisease increasingly resembles that ofwealthy countries.

• Despite these significant advances,access to medicines in poor countriesremains low – in large part because of a range of counterproductivegovernment policies.

• Intellectual property is blamed by somefor restricting access to medicines, yetthis is rarely the case; rather, it is a vitalincentive for the development of newdrugs for the diseases of poverty.

• A lack of enforceable property rights andweak rule of law are contributing to anexplosion of counterfeit medicines inless developed countries, to the gravedetriment of the health of the poor.

• Government attempts to plan andcontrol universal healthcare systemsresult in rationing, inequitable accessand entrenched corruption.

• Endemic corruption in the healthsystems of less developed countriesundermines the effectiveness ofoverseas development aid.

• The politicisation of diseases such as HIV/AIDS has led to a diversion of resources away from more easilytreatable diseases that affect morepeople. Cost-effective and simpleinterventions such as vaccination are being subordinated to other more‘politically correct’ diseases.

• Meanwhile, the UN’s centrally-plannedAIDS and malaria programmes haveharmed patients and wasted resources.

• The structure and funding of the WorldHealth Organization leads it to focusresources on the modish health issuesof wealthy countries, rather thanfighting the diseases of poverty.

Price: £12

Fighting the Diseases of PovertyEdited by Philip Stevens

International Policy Press

www.fightingdiseases.orgInternational Policy Press, London

Social Services

For those living in poverty in the U.S.State and federal governments provide a wide array of social services for those living in poverty, but also reduce access to jobs, health care, & housing through regulation E c o n o m i c T h i n k i n g • S o c i a l S e r v i c e s T o p i c • F a l l , 2 0 0 9

Rethinking Social Safety Nets A social safety net is different from a government one, because society is different from government. Government is the only social institution able to legally use force to extract funding, and use force to carry out programs. Understanding this distinction between society and the state is key for effective social services for those living in poverty. Americans have long been skeptical of state coercion to fund and provide social services. Societies are collections of institutions each drawing upon unique relationships. Social safety nets draw upon relation-ships based on caring, or secured with contracts, that shape the scope and quality of services provided. When we say someone “fell through the safety net” it suggests a government agency could have or should have caught them. Not to quibble about language, but social services are provided by society: governments provide government

services. State and non-state services are similar: the U.S. Postal Service provides services similar to FedEx and UPS, and Social Security is similar to individual savings. But though these services are similar in form, they are far different in substance, as most customers can attest. When someone falls through society’s safety net, they have in reality fallen through many safety nets. First, they have fallen through an employment safety net, being unable or unwilling to take even a short-term job to sustain them while searching for a better job. Second, society’s fallen have exhausted the personal savings safety net—the six months of savings we are all supposed to set aside to sustain us through hardship or hold us over in between jobs. A third safety net is the insurance that many pay for monthly to insure against job loss or medical problems.. Crashing through these three social safety nets, most of us would fall next into the hands of family and friends. This

safety net we weave for ourselves in our long-term relationships with those around us. We help those we care for when they ask. And we can naturally hope and expect these friends and relatives will help us in our time of need. Some have torn these natural support networks of friends and family, or not kept them in good repair. So these unfor-tunate souls keep falling after losing jobs, savings, and not having insurance, fam-ily, or friends to support them when life goes wrong. The next social safety net is set out by churches, mutual aid societies, and other associations. Churches ask funds from members each week to support charitable causes, including members in need. These services are provided discreetly and are one of the responsibilities churches take on. Mutual Aid Societies offered another safety net, but have diminished in the U.S. and England as government social programs and insur-ance regulations squeezed them out.

www.EconomicThinking.org/Poverty Social Services for those Living in Poverty Page 1

The Economics of Space ExplorationContests, Entrepreneurship, and Special Interests in Space

Can we return to the Moon for just $30 million? Though a fraction of total funds needed to land a rover on the Moon, the Google Lunar X PRIZE contest has inspired over two dozen teams to begin design and development, and has assisted their efforts to raise funds for lunar exploration. The Google Lunar X PRIZE offers $30 million: “to the first privately funded teams to safely land a robot on the sur-face of the Moon, have that robot travel 500 meters over the lunar surface, and send video, images and data back to the Earth.” (Read the details of this moon exploration contest at: www.googlelunarxprize.org)Contests have a long history of enabling exploration across land, sea, air, and now outer space. Dava Sobel’s Longitude recounts the British government’s £20,000 prize offered to the inventor of a way to measure longitude, in order to increase ocean exploration.The Ansari X PRIZE was modeled after the Orteig Prize, won by Char-les Lindbergh in 1927 for being the first to fly non-stop from New York to Paris, and mirrored the hundreds of aviation incentive prizes offered early in the 20th century that helped create today's $300 billion com-

mercial aviation industry. Dr. Peter Diamandis designed the prize after read-ing The Spirit of St. Louis about the winning of the Orteig Prize. ... The Ansari family [became]

the title sponsors of the first X PRIZE, jumpstarting 26 teams from 7 differ-ent nations to pursue their passions by competing for the prize. Those 26 teams combined spent more than

$100 million to win the prize. Since SpaceShipOne won the prize, there has been more than $1.5 billion dollars in pub-lic and private expen-

diture in...the private spaceflight indus-try. space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize

Arrayed against the entrepreneurs and enterprises of the New Space Industry, are the cost-plus contrac-tors of the Old Space industry. NASA’s just-announced deep space rocket, with its $35 billion price tag, would be built by cost-plus space contractors. To get Congressional funding NASA and lob-

byists will likely try to undermine less-expensive New Space launch systems and exploration projects. NASA and the Old Space contractors are accustomed to cost-overruns (and profits from cost-overruns): costs that include lobbying Congress for projects like the new “monster rocket” (see page 8). This year, space exploration’s future is being debated from high school to Congress.

E C O N O M I C T H I N K I N G

www.mackinac.org/debate The Economics of Space Exploration 1

M a c i n a c C e n t e r D e b a t e W o r k s h p s S p a c e T o p i c S t u d y G u i d e O c t o b e r , 2 0 1 1

Scaled Composite’s SpaceShipOne wins the Ansari X Prize Charles Lindberg wins the Orteig Prize for crossing the Atlantic.

Lunar X Prize

competitors

www.EconomicThinking.org/Africa

www.EconomicThinking.org/poverty

www.EconomicThinking.org/Space


http://economicthinking.org/Africa/







Yes, Minister andYes, Prime Minister


www.EconomicThinking.org/Reagan


http://economicthinking.org/Reagan/


www.EconomicThinking.org/Reagan


