This issue of The Freeman explores how collective action, when detached from personal responsibility, leads to political overreach and economic distortion. It critiques wage and price controls, protectionist demands, and compulsory unionism, showing how intervention undermines productivity and restricts opportunity. Additional essays analyze inflation’s subtle harms, the entrepreneurial roots of prosperity, and the moral principles that sustain a free society. Other contributors address the decline of educational standards, the political manipulation of “needs,” and the dangers of conflating charity with coercion. Book reviews consider works on economics, public policy, and the continuing relevance of classical liberal thought.
