This issue of The Freeman examines why jobs cannot be created by coercive measures such as minimum wage laws, showing how costs, marginal productivity, and consumer choice determine employment. It presents the moral and economic case for “honest money” redeemable in gold, critiques the inflationary effects of bureaucratic expansion, and explains how natural rights arise from the nature of human action. Additional essays explore why freedom offers the best path for less-developed countries, defend the market against intellectual and moralistic attacks, and review works on alternatives to regulation, the German economy of 1916–1923, and Carl Menger’s Principles of Economics.
