Revisiting the legacies of colonialism to indict Western imperialism has become a fashionable pastime for leading academics. Many argue that colonialism erected permanent roadblocks to thwart the progress of ex-colonies. Western colonialism is so vilified that any attempt to present a balanced overview is deemed improper. Bruce Gilley’s controversial essay, “The Case for Colonialism,” spawned a firestorm of criticisms that led the journal, Third World Quarterly, to retract the piece.
Gilley sought to demonstrate that in several cases, colonialism brought positive benefits, and he even suggested that some places would prosper if they were recolonized. Recolonizing independent territories is fraught with tension and seems impractical, but Gilley is correct in

In 2022, investments into the creator economy surged to $5 billion. The term creator refers to people who generate value from intellectual output or artistic work. However, a new form of creative has emerged known as the “influencer.” Influencers are online personalities who, through their charisma, cultivate a loyal fanbase. Due to their reach, brands employ influencers to market their products and services.
Influencer marketing has proven to be a lucrative venture, and estimates suggest that the industry totaled $16.4 billion in 2022. Brands fork out huge sums to capitalize on the reach of megacelebrities who sway millions to buy their products. Football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo earns $2,397,000 million per Instagram post, and the doyen of American

The history of transatlantic slavery is riddled with fables and errors. Erroneous claims have been propagated in the media because history is currently perceived as a political project that must justify present sensibilities. History has become so politicized that rigorous research is unable to disabuse activists of inaccuracies. Due to the rampant politicization of academia, noted scholars are usually cajoled into apologizing for defending historical standards.
After chiding fellow scholars for projecting modern sensibilities onto historical realities, historian James H. Sweet was shamed into penning an apology. Sweet was ruthlessly demeaned by his colleagues for noting the fallacy of using the narratives of identity politics to interpret historical events.

Secularists cheer the decline of religion in Western societies, but that loss comes at a huge cost: the decline of civilization itself.

Original Article: "Loss of Religious Belief Is a Greater Loss for a Civilized Society"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. 

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People are innovative—if government doesn’t get in the way. Entrepreneurs in developing countries find alternatives for people cut off from commercial banking services.

Original Article: "Poor People in Developing Countries Find Alternatives to Commercial Banking"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. 

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There has been a noticeable decline in the percentage of Americans identifying as religious. Some perceive this seismic shift as evidence of a secularizing culture. In some quarters, the secularization of America is viewed favorably as an agent of modernization. But researchers are theorizing that the erosion of religious beliefs portends negative consequences for society because religion cultivates meaningful social relationships by nurturing a sense of community.
Religious institutions hone social capital by fostering a strong sense of brotherhood that transcends tribalism. Religions also make it easier for societies to scale up by diminishing tribalism and promoting cooperation. Cooperative groups are more successful than divisive groups, and by engendering

Lacking a solid team is a recipe for organizational failure, and those intending to excel in business—or any other sector—must invest in management. Considering that many professional athletes encounter bankruptcy shortly after retiring, they are a demographic that could greatly benefit from quality financial management teams. Elite athletes earn millions of dollars during a short time, but few succeed at multiplying their earnings to create wealth. An investigation by the Global Financial Literacy Center found that 16 percent of National Football League (NFL) players declare bankruptcy within twelve years of retirement. Quite startling is that some athletes report bankruptcy as early as two years after retirement.
The results of the study also showed that NFL

Australia’s superb performance on measures of international development has earned her the admiration of many. Few countries can boast such stellar achievements in economic and social affairs. Currently, Australia has the highest median wealth per adult in the world and outperforms the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average in civic engagement, health, education, and other dimensions of well-being.
Australians are equally lauded for their responsiveness to changes in the digital economy and their inventive abilities. However, the spectacular success of Australians has puzzled onlookers who find it unfathomable that a colony settled by convicts could become so prosperous. But what they forget is that most convicts sent to Australia

The Chinese Community Party’s crackdown in Christian churches reflects the perceived antiauthoritarian nature of Christianity and the party’s fear of a competing alternative worldview.

Original Article: "Historical Christianity as a Liberating Force in China"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. 

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Money laundering is illegal in the USA, but like so many other federal crimes, it is difficult to identify and define. That is the perfect recipe for government abuse of innocent people.

Original Article: "Money Laundering: Another Noncrime Pursued by Criminal Authorities"
This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. 

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The “new history of capitalism” (NHC) continues to receive widespread acclaim despite mounting inaccuracies. Although critical reviews have punctured adherents’ arguments many still cling to wrongheaded assumptions that exaggerate the role of slavery and cotton in powering America’s economic progress. Several industries were complicit in fueling slavery, but their success was never hinged on slave production.
In fact, slavery proved to be a hindrance to commercial progress. Dependence on slavery reduced the incentive to invest in physical infrastructure and real estate development. For instance, during the apex of the canal boom in the 1830s, five times as many miles were built in the Northern as in the Southern states. Because slaves could be levied as collateral

The link between the transatlantic slave trade and industrial growth in Britain is a recurring theme in public discussions. There is a widespread assumption that the profitability of the slave trade requires Britain to compensate the descendants of Africans, since slavery helped to enrich some institutions. It is true that the slave trade made profits, but its contribution to the economy was marginal. Technological change rather than the slave trade was the force that propelled the Industrial Revolution.
Studies examining the profitability of the slave trade have also failed to account for the impact of British human capital and institutional innovations on the viability of the trade. Slave trades have been ubiquitous throughout history, yet we know considerably

The immigration debate has polarized societies across the Western world. Objectors assert that the influx of migrants has corroded social relations, and defenders argue that immigrants release a dose of entrepreneurial dynamism. Debates will persist because it’s unlikely that people can be discouraged from migrating to rich countries in the West. Migrants will continuously flock to places like America and Canada, since they provide better opportunities.
Besides offering immigrants more options to build wealth, rich countries in Europe and North America also attract many through their well-endowed welfare systems. Researchers contend that welfare acts as a magnet that lures migrants to prosperous countries. The allure of welfare is so potent that limiting benefits

The 2018 announcement that the British government completed the payment of a loan that was borrowed to compensate slave owners for the abolition of slavery continues to evoke a flurry of emotions. Many find it outrageous that the British government would contemplate compensating planters rather than the enslaved. Such responses are expected because people are using current moral standards to judge historical realities.
But an appreciation of the sociopolitical events surrounding the loan suggests that compensating planters was a feasible alternative at the time. English laws and customs placed a premium on protecting the rights of property owners, and slaves were considered property. The idea of owning people today seems abhorrent; however, this was not always the

Appreciating cultural nuances is difficult without understanding the stories that provide insight into a society’s soul. Stories reflect a nation’s values, aspirations, and ideals. Songs, poems, and literature illuminate the tastes of citizens and even political and economic preferences. Economist and polymath Deidre McCloskey in her bourgeois trilogy argues that the evolution of a promarket rhetoric was central to the wealth explosion in the West.
Indeed, economists are becoming amenable to cultural explanations for differences in development. However, few explore how engaging national tales can aid the development process by availing information that fills the gaps in official narratives. Stories help to bridge the gap between experts and locals by tackling

People decrying poverty in developing countries usually overlook the fact that there is a dearth of long-term economic thinking.

Original Article: “Economies Cannot Produce Wealth without Patience and Long-Term Horizons”

In a pioneering study, psychologist Walter Mischel demonstrated that delaying gratification in childhood led to success in later life. The experiment entailed placing toddlers in a room with treats and giving them the option of eating them immediately or waiting for fifteen minutes so that they could get a second offering. Follow-up studies found that participants were more successful in adolescence if they exercised self-control by waiting for fifteen minutes before eating the treats.
The observation that self-control is correlated with

There is a renewed interest in the West Indian colonies’ relevance to the British industrial revolution and the subsequent economic transformations that substantially altered Western society’s fortunes. This literature has been provoked by the urge to challenge earlier interpretations that underestimate colonies’ value to Western countries by showing how interconnected global economies were. Colonies were expensive for Britain, and economists contend that there would have been greater benefits if funds for the imperial project had instead been allocated to domestic investments.
However, the new literature on colonialism aims to refute the observation that colonies were marginal to Britain’s economy by demonstrating that they constituted a viable source of economic

Black entrepreneurship in the United States has a remarkable history. Even during the inhospitable climate of Southern slavery, both enslaved and free blacks managed to establish lucrative ventures. Research on black entrepreneurship has revealed that in the Antebellum South black entrepreneurs’ pursuits spanned the entire gamut of industry, ranging from merchandising to transportation.
Indeed, the success of some black entrepreneurs was so astounding that the demand for their services transcended the boundaries of race and class. The case of Archy Carey, a black slave who acquired his freedom, merits attention. Carey was the proprietor of a successful hack-driving business, owner of several investment properties, and was even revered by eminent whites. “He is a

Economists are often examining the variables that lead to prosperity, but surprisingly, intelligence is rarely featured in this literature, despite its high replicability in research. Intelligence is a robust predictor of well-being, job performance, and other social outcomes. Due to heightened reasoning abilities, intelligent people are more cooperative and adept at defusing tension. Intelligent people are also appreciative of the long-term reverberations of their actions because they are more future oriented; as result, highly intelligent people are less likely to make rash decisions.
One can argue that intelligence is a cost-saving mechanism, since intelligent people are unlikely to make flippant decisions that can incur unwarranted costs. For example, if a

While the standard secular narrative is that Christianity held back science and human development, history tells a different story, one of literacy and the development of human capital.
Original Article: “Christianity and the Development of Human Capital: Challenging the Narratives”

Undeniably, the advent of Christianity has fundamentally transformed the world. But this startling fact has been obscured by thinkers eager to depict Christianity as a backward religion that derailed progress. The conventional narrative suggests that Christianity is an archaic religion responsible for thwarting science in the Middle Ages and delaying the transmission of human capital. However, modern research has provided a corrective to these falsehoods by illustrating that

When assailing global governance, pundits rarely comment on its impact on small countries. Yet the degree to which small countries are ignored by global institutions—like the G7, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank—helps to illustrate how institutions of global governance tend to primarily reflect the values of managerial elites from large and wealthy states.
That is, global policies are earnestly tailored by rich states in the West in response to specific challenges. In Western countries leaders have expressed concern that major corporations use tax havens as a mechanism to lower their tax burden. Therefore, to rectify the problem, leaders of G7 nations are recommending a minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15 percent.
Such a policy will

For many, income inequality is a disease ravaging the fabric of capitalist societies. Therefore, curing this ailment, according to progressives, necessitates an injection of welfare benefits and higher taxes on the wealthy. Guided by a zero-sum outlook, critics believe that the success of the affluent is gained at the expense of the poor. To remind voters that he takes income inequality seriously, during his presidential campaign, Joe Biden expressed concern that the intensity of income inequality in the US would foment discord. “When we have income inequality as large as we have in the United States, today it brews and ferments political discord and basic revolutions, “he said.
Fast-forward to 2021, and the polarizing rhetoric of income inequality is even

Market reforms in Africa can be thwarted because of propaganda asserting that markets are a Western import. Notwithstanding the currency of this belief, it is patently absurd. Markets flourished in Africa prior to colonialism, and wherever they are repressed, the result is social immiseration, as economist William Hutt points out in his pathbreaking study, The Economics of the Colour Bar. Merchants in precolonial Africa organized large-scale trading networks that spanned several regions.
According to Alberta O. Akrong (2019), the diversity of African trade transacted on land and waterways enhanced the continent’s accessibility to strategic resources. Like elsewhere, in precolonial Africa, Africans designed mechanisms to enable commerce. Gareth Austin in his

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The triumph of peace in contemporary societies is expressed as an obvious fact by mainstream intellectuals. Noting the relatively peaceful state of the world is part of a broader narrative to paint a positive picture of humanity. Yet there is a kernel truth to the assertion that quality of life indicators are improving, as explored by Marian Tupy and other optimists. But the game of warfare is more complicated.
Steven Pinker in his compelling tome The Better Angels of Our Nature posits that warfare is declining. Numerous graphs and statistics are adduced to marshal his case for the ascent of peace. But since its publication in 2011, Pinker’s thesis has spurred internecine debates. But before embarking upon an exploration of Pinker’s audacious claim, we must assess

Last month, British black studies professor Kehinde Andrews argued that the British Empire was “far worse than the Nazis.” It was a controversial comparison to be sure, but it raises the question: Compared to other expansionist regimes, how bad was the British Empire?
A survey of the evidence suggests that the British Empire was relatively less harmful than other imperial efforts, and this is reflected in outcomes—in terms of health and economic growth, among other outcomes—compared among British colonies and other sovereign states in similar times and places.
This should not surprise us, since, as far as empires go, the British one was unusually liberal and open in terms of trade, centralization, and economic regulation.
One can certainly argue that colonial

Though numerous studies prove the contrary, it is still widely assumed that capitalism perpetuates racism. Celebrities and academics incessantly broadcast the message that capitalism engenders racism. For example, recently on Twitter, superstar athlete Andre Iguodala informed his followers that capitalism cannot be divorced from racism: “Capitalism and racism go hand in hand. And you can’t have one without the other.” Equally scathing is the blistering declaration of sociologist Edna Bonacich in an academic review: “Capitalism and racism are closely connected….The huge wealth of America’s white-owned corporations rests on the backs of the hard labor of workers, many of whom are people of color.”
Despite the popularity of anticapitalist rhetoric, it is woefully

In most economies, inventories are valued at market prices, while in China they are valued by the authorities and adjusted later. This is just one of many ways China manipulates GDP data.

The year 2020 will be an extremely tough year for the European economy. Added to an unprecedented drop is a strong impact in the fourth quarter due to the new lockdowns. Morgan Stanley estimates that the eurozone’s GDP will fall by 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter, a 7 percent drop in the full year 2020. In addition, the investment bank has lowered the outlook for 2021, with a rebound of only 5 percent in the average of the euro area, delaying the recovery of 2019 GDP to 2023.
The “jobless recovery” is even more worrying. The apparently spectacular rebound data for the third

The fact that some Americans supported slavery in the eighteenth century is not at all remarkable. Most of the world agreed with them. What is remarkable is that many of them sought to abolish slavery in the new republic.

This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. Narrated by Michael Stack.
Original Article: “No, the American Republic Was Not Founded on Slavery“.

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Journalistic propaganda is a powerful instrument of indoctrination. Without evidence, foul ideas can easily penetrate mainstream discourse. For instance, recently it has become fashionable to posit that slavery is America’s original sin. To sensible people, this is a risible claim, because there is nothing particularly American about slavery. But revisiting the history of slavery in non-Western societies in Asia and Africa would do little to change the minds of America’s critics. A more appropriate strategy would be to contrast the opinions of the Founding Fathers on slavery with those of leaders in other countries. Only after undertaking this task will we be able to judge America.
In a larger historical context, asserting that some of the American founders owned