Charity without Force: The Bishop's Storehouse
by Bobby Yates Emory
Describes the welfare system of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons).
Corrupting charity: Why government should not fund faith-based charities
by Michael Tanner
This study examines the difficulties in mixing government and private
charities, a la faith-based initiatives. It is available in Adobe
PDF.
Government Should Regulate Charities? It Just Aint So!
by Sheldon Richman
"Needless to say, laws against theft and fraud should—and already do—apply to
nonprofit organizations. If a charity solicits money for orphans and spends it
on executive cruises to exotic places, the people responsible should be forced
to make restitution."
How Socialism Affects Charity
by Glenn L. Pearson
"The economic consequences of socialism pale into insignificance alongside the moral
consequences. It is infinitely more tragic that our government has presided over the
moral decay of America than over its growing poverty."
Loving Your Neighbor: A Principled Guide to Personal Charity Edited by
Marvin Olasky
reviewed by Montgomery B. Brown
"Loving Your Neighbor is essentially a sequel to The Tragedy of American
Compassion, Marvin Olasky's highly influential history of efforts to fight poverty
in America. The earlier work shows how, over time, the spiritual foundation and personal
character of assistance to the needy in our country were largely undermined by expansive
government programs. Each chapter of Loving Your Neighbor describes a particular
organization or program for helping the poor, and each confirms lessons drawn from
Olasky's history: the successful ventures are typically spiritually grounded, private,
and modest in scale, while the secular and more ambitious public programs are mostly
ineffective and often harmful."
Paternalism and Charity in a Free Society
by Esler G. Heller
"The free society, far from lacking compassion toward persons with physical, mental,
moral, social, or economic handicaps, will prove to be both just and compassionate, not
only to the disadvantaged, but to all persons and groups. It permits those who can
fulfill their own responsibilities and still have human or material resources left for
philanthropy, those who would be teachers, helpers, defenders, leaders, to make a myriad
of voluntary arrangements with their fellows for mutual betterment and satisfaction.
Compulsion can only teach compulsion, but voluntary good works are an encouraging and
uplifting example. Absence of compulsion is essential to civilized progress, and is the
essence of the free market, true charity, and liberty."
A Service Provision Alternative
by Bobby Yates Emory
Voluntary means can provide many so-called public goods.
The Answer to Katrina
by Walter Block
"The last best hope for society and a civilized order is the freedom philosophy.
The promotion of Austro-libertarianism is the dark horse candidate to protect future
generations from horrors such as Katrina. This can and will be done two ways. One,
directly, by allowing a private enterprise industry devoted to cloud seeding and other
such techniques to stop future storms dead in their tracks. Two, indirectly, by making
us ever so much more wealthy, so that we will one day have the wherewithal to support
such new technology, and better care for those few who still fall victim."
Business more nimble than government in Katrina crisis
by Chris Adams and Kevin G. Hall
"Days after Hurricane Katrina ripped across the Gulf Coast and left this storied
city a toxic swamp, defense contractor Northrop Grumman flew in more than 3,000 paychecks
from Texas. Wal-Mart rushed mops and bottles of bleach to its stores across the Gulf Coast
region. Hibernia Bank secured office space and apartments in a city seven hours away."
Companies pitch in
Major companies -- including Home Depot and Ford -- pledge millions to hurricane relief
efforts.
Freedom works: Natural disasters
November 3, 2007
by Steven Greenhut
"The goal in dealing with natural disasters should not be the constant shaking-down of
taxpayers, but the privatization of more functions. For instance, most of the land that
burned in California was owned by government. Governments manage land poorly, based
mostly on political considerations. If more land in our region were privately owned,
those owners would have more incentive to maintain it so that it doesn't burn. Private
insurance would put restrictions on land use, and landowners would be responsible for
what happens on their property. Private firefighting agencies would have more incentive
to focus on prevention."
How Private Development Can Help the Post-Katrina Recovery
October 18, 2005
by Jeffrey J. Pompe and James R. Rinehart
"Numerous common interest developments built along the South Atlantic coast on barrier
islands such as Seabrook, Hilton Head, and Dewees, offer important guidelines for
post-Katrina development."
In a Crisis, Markets More than Ever
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"After a natural disaster hits, we open our doors to see a space desperately in need of
clean up. With regard to government in the world today, we see something very similar.
Let us open our doors and look without flinching at the terrible mess that the state has
made of our world. To those who say this is beautiful and productive, let us explain why
this is not so. Let us point to wars and poverty, mass sickness and disease, and explain
their cause. Let us stand up to those who would celebrate destruction and show that it is
unnecessary and terribly tragic. And let us not despair when we see a world torn asunder
by the state, but rather see the evidence of invention and creativity which surrounds us,
and look for every opportunity for rebuilding."
Let the Market Work,
Especially During Disasters
by John R. Lott, Jr.
". . . to the extent that government successfully suppresses prices, it is Floridians
who will suffer, not just now but after future hurricanes as well."
Public and Private Responses to Katrina: What Can We Learn?
by Mary L. G. Theroux
"What is probably most inexcusable and has been kept relatively quiet is that the
Red Cross and the Salvation Army were staged and ready to enter New Orleans with
food, water and other emergency supplies. The roads to the Superdome and the Convention
Center were open, and other areas of the city remained similarly accessible. But the
Louisiana Dept. of Homeland Security denied them permission to go in, saying their
presence would 'prevent people from leaving.'”
Saying No to Federal Disaster Relief
March 1990
by William B. Irvine
"If, after all, the government adopts a policy of bailing out those who lose the bet
they place when they pass up earthquake insurance or build their home on a beach, the
government unintentionally encourages people to engage in this sort of behavior.
(“Why pay for disaster insurance when you can get it ‘for free’ from the government?”)
More generally, the government encourages people not to worry about tomorrow’s
foreseeable disasters. (“Why worry? The government will take care of us.”) And by
encouraging this carefree attitude, the government increases the chance that future
earthquakes and hurricanes will do even more harm than they now do."
Take the Politics Out of Disaster Relief
September 30, 2005
by Matt Ryan
"The Economist magazine called the Katrina disaster the “Shaming of America,” but
they got it wrong. The outpouring of private charity has been remarkable and Americans
should be proud. What has been shameful is our government’s catastrophic handling of
disaster relief.
U.S. Should Not Help Tsunami Victims
January 4, 2005
by David Holcberg
"Every cent the government spends comes from taxation. Every dollar the government
hands out as foreign aid has to be extorted from an American taxpayer first. Year
after year, for decades, the government has forced American taxpayers to provide
foreign aid to every type of natural or man-made disaster on the face of the earth: from
the Marshall Plan to reconstruct a war-ravaged Europe to the $15 billion recently
promised to fight AIDS in Africa to the countless amounts spent to help the victims
of earthquakes, fires and floods--from South America to Asia. Even the enemies of the
United States were given money extorted from American taxpayers: from the billions
given away by Clinton to help the starving North Koreans to the billions given away
by Bush to help the blood-thirsty Palestinians under Arafat's murderous regime."
Wal-Mart Commits Additional $15 Million to Katrina Relief
Weapon of Mass Creation
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"Natural disasters are something human society has to cope with, and the market has
found brilliant ways of doing so. Government, on the other hand, is a man-made disaster
that is sustained only by the ideological ignorance of the population that somehow
believes that because destruction is officially sponsored by the law and the legislators,
or otherwise endorsed by the democratic process, that it yields great good or forestalls
great evil."
Life Savings: For 170 years, a private British organization has been
rescuing people at sea.
by James L. Payne
". . . running the lifeboats and paying the thousands of rescue workers does not
cost British taxpayers a penny. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution is a
private organization, supported, as it proudly says on its letterhead,
'entirely by voluntary contributions' and managed by its own trustees and
staff. The RNLI will rescue you whether you are rich or poor, whether you have
donated to it or not." . . .
"Reviewing all these advantages, the government's own officials down through the
years have quietly agreed with the sentiment expressed by Jack Stapley when I
asked him why the RNLI avoided government support: 'We feel service would
deteriorate if it was government-funded.'"
National Emergency and the Erosion of Private Property Rights
by Robert Higgs and Charlotte Twight
"Thus, private property rights, historically truncated during national emergencies,
remain vulnerable to further erosion during future crises. Attempts to restrain the
abuse of emergency powers have not eliminated the ratcheting effect of actual or
purported emergency in augmenting governmental power. Only the respite of non-crisis
affords time to contemplate and forestall the threat to liberty and private property
rights inherent in the emergency psychology of the public and its exploitation by
governmental officials."
The Story of the Week
September 15, 2005
From Liberty Activist News Digest (LAND)
"The story of the week ... the aftermath of Katrina ... government totally fails not
only to 'protect' the citizens and provide 'security' and rescue, but actively obstructs
private charities and citizens, and ends the week by forcibly (but supposedly gently)
evacuating residents from undamaged homes ... and confiscating guns. Yes, here in
America. Look at the video of gun confiscation .... and tell me that the final line
hasn't been crossed.
The contrast between the efforts of private citizens, rescuing the stranded,
forming 'tribes' in the affected areas to survive, giving help in a 'tremendous
outpouring' of donations and volunteerism, is apparent not only to libertarians, but
to thinking people of ALL poilitical persuasions .... note that I
ay "thinking" people ... there are many, on the left and right, who STILL believe
that government is the solution ... either "more money", "more power", "better people
in charge" .... anyone who believes that after these past 2 weeks is, I'm afraid, beyond
hope. Mark their words now, and remember who they are. "
Voluntary valour: Independent provision of lifeboats
"The RNLI has shown that an efficient, world-class lifeboat service can be operated by
a volunteer-based organization. It is one of Britain's leading charities, attracting more
voluntary financial support than almost any other body. Over 200,000 people are members,
grouped into 1,500 fundraising branches. They are happy to give their time and energy to
raise money for something in which they believe."
Beacon to the World
by Mary J. Ruwart
"The most effective way to help poorer nations is to practice non-aggression."
Development aid, money laundering, corruption and the taxpayer
April 26, 2005
by Hugo J. van Reijen
"Summarising the adverse effects resulting from development aid, it should be stated
that development aid:
- distorts the allocation of scarce capital by avoiding the free
market during the allocation process
- accommodates inefficient and corrupt governments,
keeping the people of the undeveloped countries tied up in the vicious circle of red
tape and poverty
- forces Western tax payers to work more hours for the same amount of remuneration.
A better policy would be:
- to stop all forms of development aid immediately
- close down the IMF, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank which continue to
exist because of the tyranny of the status quo.
- provide the developing world with a serious signal, that with immediate effect a
capitalistic free market system should be established which will hopefully result in
a better governance , radical cutting of red tape, the lifting of import and export
restrictions and sending home all employees impeding the functioning of private
enterprise: employees whose minds have been poisoned with the socialist virus."
Disaster of Foreign Aid Programs
December 12, 2003
by Ken Schoolland
"Autocratic rulers can more easily hold on to the reins of power when there is
abundance of wealth to distribute among corrupt power brokers. In this sense,
foreign aid is more likely to retard development."
Doubling Aid Will Not Help World’s Poor
January 31, 2005
by Benjamin Powell
"The United Nations’ goals include reducing the number of people living in extreme
poverty by 50 percent. Unfortunately, the U.N.’s recently released report calls for
a doubling of foreign aid to achieve this goal. But increased aid is unlikely to promote
economic progress and may actually impede it."
Economic Freedom or Foreign Aid?
July 2000
by Doug Bandow
"In a world of plenty want abounds. To blame are big corporations, international trade,
and open markets, according to demonstrators who have been attacking the World Trade
Organization. In fact, they couldn't get it more wrong. Economic liberty and exchange
offer the world's poor the best hope of a better future."
The False Promise of Aid to Africa
July 15, 2005
by Ian Vásquez
"If history is any guide, the G8's initiatives will do little to reduce poverty in
Africa, the world's poorest region and the focus of rich country efforts. Debt relief
itself has not proved effective in the past. Since the 1980s, heavily indebted poor
countries, most of which are in Africa, have received more than $30 billion in debt
forgiveness, yet the debt problem has gotten worse. In practice, countries have been
rewarded for having poor economic policies and foreign aid has encouraged their
maintenance."
The Failures and Fallacies of Foreign Aid
by David Osterfeld
"Foreign “aid” is not “aid” at all; it is foreign “harm,” and the sooner this is
recognized the better. The capitalist countries of the West developed without “aid,” as
did Japan. The most rapidly developing Third World countries—Taiwan, Hong Kong,
Singapore, and South Korea—received little “aid” or began developing only after
massive amounts of “aid” were discontinued."
Foreign Aid and International Crises
by Doug Bandow
"The most important thing that developed nations can do to assist poorer states is to
first do no harm. Washington should end government-to-government assistance, which has
so often buttressed brutal and venal regimes and eased pressure for reform. At the same
time, the United States should drop its trade barriers, which now prevent poorer nations
from participating in the international marketplace."
Foreign Aid the Voluntary Way
by Menlo F. Smith
"Guided by the scriptural admonition to “do unto the least of these,” to feed the
hungry, clothe the naked, and help the impoverished of developing countries to help
themselves, the people of Enterprise Mentors and their private voluntary financial
supporters (no government funding is accepted) are making a real and lasting
difference in the spiritual and material lives of those whom they serve."
No Oil for Food
May 6, 2003
by Wendy McElroy
"Around the globe, the UN uses "humanitarian aid" as a vehicle by which to impose
politically correct policies, from gender feminism to gun control.
But the crisis in Iraq reveals another aspect of the UN: a money-hungry institution
that hides behind a mask of compassion."
Privatizing Foreign Aid
by Harry Valentine
"Repressive, oppressive, tyrannical and dictatorial political behavior which generous
government-to-government foreign aid packages encouraged, could be curtailed if not
eliminated. A despot in need of funds from the USA, would have to appeal directly to
the US population at large and not to their government in Washington. It may be an
embarrassment for the tyrant to do so, yet it could ensure that the recipient engages
in more humane and civilized behavior toward their citizens."
Stop Aiding Dictators
February 27, 2006
by Benjamin Powell and Matt Ryan
"The first rule of development-aid policy should be to do no harm. Unfortunately, OECD
and U.S. aid has failed to promote development, and has actively promoted harm, by
helping oppressive dictatorships. This kind of aid also tends to undermine economic
freedom, by politicizing economic life in the recipient country and by preserving
inefficient regimes. Over the last 30 years, development aid has reduced economic
freedom in both dictatorships and democracies."
Third World Development: Foreign Aid or Free Trade?
by John Majewski
"It must be emphasized that free trade alone will not solve all the problems of Third
World poverty. Free trade only increases the opportunities of the less developed nations.
It will not eliminate the shackles of government regulation and intervention that
dominate Third World economies. That task can only be done by the people of the Third
World themselves. Yet, eliminating foreign aid and instituting free trade will at least
encourage Third World peoples to develop institutions such as private property rights
and free markets which will lead to growth and prosperity."
UNICEF’s ‘Rights’ Focus Is All Wrong
December 22, 2004
by Wendy McElroy
"Bellamy’s “rights-based approach” (focusing on children’s “rights” as opposed to their
simple physical survival), Horton said, has also been devastating to children, an
estimated 10 million of whom die from preventable causes before the age of five every
year."
Habitat and Heart: in Praise of Social Entrepreneurs
July 14, 2004
by John A. Baden
"The term “entrepreneur” usually invokes images of Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, or Bill
Gates. Such individuals mobilize ideas and arrange resources to bring new products to
market. They have clearly made huge contributions to our wealth and well-being. They
have, in fact, democratized luxury. However, the commercial sector has no monopoly on
entrepreneurial talent. Consider those who mobilize good intentions through constructive
voluntary action. As America grows ever wealthier, these “social entrepreneurs” become
relatively more important and commercial entrepreneurs less so."
How would libertarians help the homeless?
by Mary Ruwart
"During my years as a landlady to low-income tenants, building inspectors told me to
install new kitchen counters a couple of inches longer or to rebuild staircases to
increase width by an inch. When I pointed out that these expensive and unnecessary
changes would increase rents for the poor who lived there, one inspector replied,
"Good. We'll get these people out of our city." Other Michigan landlords told me similar
stories. We didn't have homelessness in our small town until the city decided to make
annual housing inspections mandatory, and compelled landlords to make such ridiculous
changes."
The Planning Penalty: How Smart Growth Makes Housing Unaffordable
June 12, 2006
by Randal O'Toole
"Smart growth and other forms of growth-management planning create artificial housing
shortages that impose significant burdens on low-income families and first-time
homebuyers. This paper examines several sources of housing data to determine the
specific effects of growth-management planning on housing prices."
A real solution for homelessness: Private charity and responsibility
by Gerald Wicz
Broadway Presbyterian Church in upper Manhattan is having more
success getting homeless alcoholocs and drug abusers to straighten
out their lives now that it links charity to personal responsibility.
Tough Love for the Needy
by James L. Payne
"Each Habitat chapter has a family selection committee that interviews applicants and
explains what is expected of them. Committee members investigate thoroughly to select
families that want to make a success of the housing opportunity being offered. After
the family moves into its Habitat-built home, a family nurture committee provides
financial counselling, and encourages the family to live up to its contractual
responsibilities."
The Rise and Fall of Fraternal Insurance Organizations
by Leslie Siddeley
A bibliographic essay about the vast, private, mutual-aid network
that provided insurance for Americans in the past.
A Signal that Helping Out is Outdated
November 29, 1992
by Tibor R. Machan
"In other words, insurance companies now tell truck drivers not to get involved with
helping anyone lest they be subject to a lawsuit."
Capitalism and the Weak
by Daniel Hager
"Louis XIV was in his time the strongest man in Europe, the embodiment of the full
power of the French state. But despite that strength he could not command the appearance
of out-of-season grapes. Thanks to capitalism, being an ordinary American is better
than being the king."
Community Lip Service
by Jacob Halbrooks
"The best way to help society is to be productive in it, and this is done through
working hard in one's career and making a quality product, whether that product is
a paper clip or a less tangible service offered to others. The community benefits
when one offers a quality product because the people are presented with more options
and competition in the marketplace, which results in a higher quality of life for
everyone."
Education won't necessarily help development
January 17, 2004
by Jim Peron
"It is widely recognised that a large percentage of the educated citizens of many poor
interventionist economies leave their countries permanently. And those that don’t tend
to drain the economy instead of contributing to it because of the profit opportunities
created by government intervention. As the economic lifeblood is sucked out by
rent-seekers, job opportunities are destroyed."
A free market is the only choice in Iraq:
The only choice for economic prosperity
November 5, 2003
by Gerald O'Driscoll, Jr.
"Regardless of one's opinion on the wisdom of the Iraq war, the US government must now
decide on whether to keep the oil sector in state hands or to privatize it. The Bush
administration is terrified of privatization in Iraq and is set to keep oil in state
hands. If it does that, then the war will have been for nothing. The source of internal
conflict among the principal groupings in Iraq will remain. So internal conflict will
result, and a new dictatorship is likely to emerge. The administration will thereby
snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in Iraq."
It’s Time to End Farm Subsidies
March 28, 2005
by Benjamin Powell
"Ending farm subsidies in America would also aid impoverished parts of the world. The
International Monetary Fund estimates that abolishing farm subsidies in rich countries
would add $100 billion to global income. And, some of those gains would accrue to poor
countries with a comparative advantage in farming."
Just Get Out of the Way: How Government Can Help Business in Poor Countries
by Robert E. Anderson
reviewed by Julio H. Cole
"Echoing an insight that dates at least from the time of Adam Smith, Anderson notes that
businesspeople everywhere (and not just in the Third World) are quite creative in
enlisting the government’s help in order to stifle competition. The trick, therefore, is
not to let them get away with it. And “there’s the rub,” because the low levels of
competence in Third World officialdom, coupled with high levels of corruption, increase
the likelihood that private special-interest groups will end up manipulating government
power for their own purposes."
The Government as Robin Hood
by E. C. Pasour, Jr
"In short, government acting in the role of Robin Hood is neither ethically defensible
nor effective."
How will the blind and other disabled fare in a libertarian society?
by Mary Ruwart
"Today, the Americans with Disabilities Act discourages employers from hiring the
disabled. In today's climate, it's tougher to fire people with a disability, so employers
are less likely to hire them. Indeed, an employer can face additional costs to adapt the
workplace to the disabled individual, and costly law suits even after good-faith efforts
to do so. When an employer has a choice, why would he or she take such risks? In a
libertarian society, this Act would not have been passed and wouldn't serve as an
additional barrier to employment of the disabled."
The Humanitarian with the Guillotine
by Isabel Paterson
"Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or
omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they
hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends."
Misdirected Compassion
by Douglas Mataconis
"Human charity, so long as it isn’t coerced, is admirable. Problems develop, however,
when compassion is misdirected into policies that actually worsen the plight of the poor.
If this compassion is genuine, then those who feel it must abandon these policies and
recognize that the best remedy for poverty lies not in a larger and more powerful
government bureaucracy, but in an expansion of the free market and the opportunities it
provides for everyone."
National Service: A Solution in Search of a Problem
March 1990
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
"The reasons given for why the nation supposedly needs a “youth corps” are that it is
important to instill in youth an admiration for collectivism and a distaste for
individualism. Of course, national service proponents rarely are so forthright in their
use of language. But a brief survey of some of the “national service” literature
reveals that this is exactly what they intend."
The Perversity of Doing Good at Others’ Expense
September 1, 1997
by Dwight R. Lee
"Both the fanciful possibility of helping some people with transfers of life from others,
and the factual possibility of helping some people with government wealth transfers from
others, illustrate the perversities that result when people attempt to do good at others’
expense. Such attempts always give the appearance of promoting virtue while destroying
the discipline and accountability that makes real virtue possible."
The Politics of Compassion
October 1990
by William B. Irvine
"There are, I think, two competing "theories of compassion" - i.e., two different ways
in which we can measure how caring an individual is. There is, to begin with, what
might be called the
Mother Teresa Theory of Compassion. According to this theory, when A feels sorry for B,
what A should do is expend personal effort and/or personal finances on B's behalf.
This theory used to be popular, but in America it has been supplanted by what might
be called the Liberal Theory of Compassion. According to this theory, when A feels
sorry for B, what A should do is cause C to be taxed so that B can benefit from the
revenues thus raised."
Social Programs: Whose Values Do They Serve?
by Richard Hammer
When donor and recipient share the same goals, charity can work.
Otherwise it fails.
Voluntarism Should Be Voluntary
by Doug Bandow
"There may be no better evidence of the imperialist tendencies of politicians than
their attempt to take the voluntary out of voluntarism. People should serve those
around them. But they should do so because they believe it to be right, not because
the government pays or forces them."
What is Poverty?
Spring 1999
by Theodore Dalrymple
"By the end of three months my doctors have, without exception, reversed their original
opinion that the welfare state, as exemplified by England, represents the acme of
civilization. On the contrary, they see it now as creating a miasma of subsidized apathy
that blights the lives of its supposed beneficiaries. They come to realize that a system
of welfare that makes no moral judgments in allocating economic rewards promotes
antisocial egotism. The spiritual impoverishment of the population seems to them worse
than anything they have ever known in their own countries. And what they see is all the
worse, of course, because it should be so much better. The wealth that enables everyone
effortlessly to have enough food should be liberating, not imprisoning. Instead, it has
created a large caste of people for whom life is, in effect, a limbo in which they have
nothing to hope for and nothing to fear, nothing to gain and nothing to lose. It is a
life emptied of meaning.
"On the whole," said one Filipino doctor to me, "life is preferable in the slums of
Manila." He said it without any illusions as to the quality of life in Manila."
Capitalism, Civil Society, Religion, and the Poor: A Bibiliographical Essay
by Max L. Stackhouse and Lawrence M. Stratton
Does Free Enterprise Help the Poor?
edited by Lynn Robinson
"This monograph, published in 2002, concluded ISI's national student essay contest
sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation. The winning essays were published in this
volume."
An Effective Poverty Alleviation Organization
by Michael Strong
"It is unlikely that any single organization on the planet alleviates poverty as
effectively for as many people as Wal-Mart."
Ending Poverty
August 1, 2005
by Johan Biermann
"Overcoming poverty requires the creation of wealth, which in turn requires production
and exchange. At the most basic level of existence, simply to survive, individuals have
to work by growing or finding or hunting for food. In order to advance from subsistence
to a better existence, people have to produce more food than they require for their
immediate needs. They need to have a surplus that they can trade for whatever else they
need. Specialising makes increased production possible, allowing the producer to purchase
an ever-widening range of assets and goods from other suppliers. That is how an
individual increases his or her wealth. If everyone does the same they all end up with
more assets and a better quality of life."
Freedom works: Poverty
November 3, 2007
by Alan W. Bock
"It has only been in countries where something resembling market capitalism has
been instituted that enough wealth has been produced that significant numbers of
people have been able to lift themselves out of poverty."
Helping the Poor
by Jane S. Shaw
"Michael Harrington, the designers of the English poor laws, and many of us in
20th-century America seem to have forgotten that poverty can be a transient condition.
Today’s poor need not be poor tomorrow. The tragedy is not so much that the poor exist
but that, in our big cities, they come to a halt on the bread line."
Helping the Poor: Friendly visiting, dole charities and dole queues
2001
by Robert Whelan and Barendina Smedley
"We need to consider alternative models of welfare provision, and that entails
looking back to the time before our peculiarly monolithic welfare state
not only took upon itself the provosion of many services which had formerly
been supplied by private bodies, but did so in a way which allowed of only one method
of delivery, for the whole population, right across the country."
Helping the Poor Help Themselves
June 09, 2004
by John C. Downen
"It is the role of government not to ensure everyone crosses the finish line at the same
time, but that everyone starts together: equality of opportunity, not outcome. Giving
money to the poor won’t eradicate poverty -- nothing will. But we can certainly reduce
poverty by removing obstacles that prevent the poor from helping themselves. Ensuring the
security of property rights is a large step on the path of development."
How Environmentalism Disdains the Poor
by E. Calvin Beisner
"This means that real friends of the environment are also real friends of the
poor—unlike those who mistakenly believe that economic growth threatens the
environment—for they will promote the economic growth that will not only improve
the health, life expectancy, and material living standards of the poor but also
lead to the cleaner, safer, more sustainable environment they seek."
It's Not 'Trickle-Down': How Capitalism Beneits the Poor
by Danny Frederick
The Madness of the Minimum Wage
June 21, 1996
by Robert Higgs
"Some have resorted to demagoguery by comparing the earnings of minimum-wage workers
with those of corporate CEOs. But can we justify kicking a kid off the bottom rung of
the job-experience ladder because corporate executives make millions? Do we really
display compassion for the poor by outlawing the jobs some of them hold? Is it better
for a person to hold a low-wage job or to live on welfare or drug-dealing?"
Make Everybody Rich
by Frederick Turner
"Why don’t governments enact policies that would make everyone rich? Universal prosperity
would not make everyone happier, but it would greatly advance the causes of world peace,
environmental protection, education, health care, women’s rights, employment, sustainable
growth, racial harmony, political liberty, scientific discovery, spiritual renewal and
the arts."
Poor Policy: How Government Harms the Poor by D. Eric Schansberg
reviewed by George C. Leef
"Poor Policy is a useful, nontechnical book that neatly organizes a lot of data
and arguments against the ideas that government can, does, and should assist the
poor. Bravo."
Poverty: Its Illegal Causes and Legal Cure
by Lysander Spooner
"The existing poverty would be rapidly removed, and future poverty almost entirely
prevented, a more equal distribution of property than now exists accomplished, and
the aggregate wealth of society greatly increased, if the principles of natural
law, and of our national and state constitutions generally, were adhered to by
the judiciary in their decisions in regard to contracts."
The Poverty of Nations:
International Monetary Fund Socialism Run Amok
September 24, 2003
by Ana I. Eiras
"The World Bank and the IMF won't come close to realizing the dream of "a world without
poverty" as long as they keep feeding money to countries with repressed economies and
weak judicial systems. These factors breed corruption and deter growth. And the aid
merely enables the problems to persist."
A Private-Sector Solution to Poverty
by Mark Skousen
"“The able bodied poor don’t want or need charity. . . .
All they need is financial capital.” — Muhammad Yunus
Reducing Poverty by Reducing Government
October 24, 2004
by George Reisman
"Workers, the poor, and the public at large do not yet see the benefits of economic
freedom. They have been misled by generations of intellectuals, such as Herbert, into
believing that poverty is the result not of the failure to produce wealth but of the
success of those who do produce it, above all, businessmen and capitalists. And so they
have been led to believe that the means of alleviating poverty is the seizure of wealth
from the businessmen and capitalists, who use their wealth overwhelmingly precisely in
the production of wealth, and who produce less to the extent that they are deprived of
the means of producing it. And in much the same way, people have been misled into
believing that the means of alleviating poverty is government policies that are nothing
more than various forms of prohibiting the production of wealth, or at least prohibiting
substantial numbers of people from producing this or that particular form of wealth."
Springing the Poverty Trap
by Mary J. Ruwart
"When we use aggression to alleviate the poverty caused by aggresssion, we only
make matters worse."
Strategies for achieving poverty
January 6, 2003
by Leon Louw
"Politicians in all countries love policies known to prevent prosperity and we must
therefore assume that they, or their advisors, want poverty. There is good news for
them: the causes of wealth and poverty - free markets and interventionism
respectively - are now so well known that state-of-the art strategies for maximising
poverty are within their reach."
The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky
reviewed by Daniel A. Bazikian
"Up to the 1840s, a general consensus still prevailed regarding society’s treatment
of the poor. Charity was handled mainly through private efforts. Government support
of the poor was limited. The English system of indiscriminate state aid to the poor
was scorned as degrading to the recipients."
Trickle Up: A Solution to Third World Poverty
by Barbara Sall
"Tapping the energy of poor people around the world and directing it toward free market
pursuits could result in an enormous increase in world wealth. Continuing to subsidize
inefficient, centralized, and crippling governments will only keep those people and
families on the edge of survival."
What is Poverty?
Spring 1999
by Theodore Dalrymple
"By the end of three months my doctors have, without exception, reversed their original
opinion that the welfare state, as exemplified by England, represents the acme of
civilization. On the contrary, they see it now as creating a miasma of subsidized apathy
that blights the lives of its supposed beneficiaries. They come to realize that a system
of welfare that makes no moral judgments in allocating economic rewards promotes
antisocial egotism. The spiritual impoverishment of the population seems to them worse
than anything they have ever known in their own countries. And what they see is all the
worse, of course, because it should be so much better. The wealth that enables everyone
effortlessly to have enough food should be liberating, not imprisoning. Instead, it has
created a large caste of people for whom life is, in effect, a limbo in which they have
nothing to hope for and nothing to fear, nothing to gain and nothing to lose. It is a
life emptied of meaning.
"On the whole," said one Filipino doctor to me, "life is preferable in the slums of
Manila." He said it without any illusions as to the quality of life in Manila."
Why Ruin the World's Best Anti-Poverty Program?
May 25, 2006
by Alexander Tabarrok
"Immigration benefits not only the immigrants but also their families back home because
of the billions of dollars of their own money that immigrants send to their families.
Remittances to Mexico in 2004, for example, amounted to 16.6 billion dollars—to put this
in perspective that’s about the same as all direct foreign investment in Mexico.
Remittances far exceed foreign aid and remittances go directly to poor people and not to
corrupt governments and dictators. Why ruin the world’s best anti-poverty program?"
Would the Poor Go Barefoot with a Private Shoe Industry?
by Stephen Davies
The End of Welfare: Fighting Poverty in the Civil Society
by Michael Tanner
reviewed by Edgar K. Browning
"He is not alluding to President Clinton’s pledge to “end welfare as we know it” but
to his own preferred solution to the welfare mess: end all government welfare programs
and rely on private charities."
The Poverty of Welfare: Helping Others in Civil Society
by Michael Tanner
reviewed by D. Eric Schansberg
"Tanner is also careful to note the limits of any effort, whether public or
private, to help the poor. As he illustrates, each individual has personal responsibility
and considerable ability to stay out of poverty. If one simply finishes high school,
avoids out-of-wedlock births, and works consistently, then long-term poverty is
exceptionally unlikely. Ultimately, government causes more harm than it should, and it
cannot do as much as good as most people suppose. For better or worse, the best
available answers for poverty are individual responsibility, a government that
establishes an environment in which hard-working people can succeed, and an active and
compassionate civil society that helps those who fall through the cracks."
The Real Reason Welfare Should End
by Michael Levin
"Let us try, for once, to see welfare not from the perspective of its recipients, but
from the perspective of those who finance it. By what right can someone who works for
a living, who has his own family to worry about, be required to support somebody else,
or, what is worse, somebody else's illegitimate child? And forced the taxpayer is.
Should he deduct from his tax payment the proportion the government will use for
welfare, he is given a jail sentence, not a lecture on charity."
The Restoration of the American Dream: A Case for Abolishing Welfare
by Walter Block
Role Reversal: The quiet success of welfare reform
June 1999
by Thomas W. Hazlett
"The problem of long-term welfare dependency was seriously addressed when new and
improved programs were ditched in favor of time limits, which made work
"requirements" credible. The effort quietly starting taking off in the states about
1993, and federal legislation bolstered the trend in 1996. In the past five years,
some 1.92 million welfare cases, 41 percent of the total, have been eliminated
nationally. Three million remain."
Welfare Minus the State: Richard C. Cornuelle, Reclaiming the American Dream
by Lowell Mason
Why the Welfare State Is Immoral
by Tibor R. Machan
"To put it simply, it perpetrates legalized theft by taking from some persons what
belongs to them and making it available, without the consent of the owner, to others.
While the objective the government may serve by this could be justifiable and even
noble, the means used to promote that objective are plainly criminal."
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This page was last updated on January 1, 2008.