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Dan Ikenson looks at the numbers and concludes that the negative economic effects of Trump’s tariffs punitive taxes on Americans who buy imports could very well exceed the positive economic effects of the cuts in other taxes.

Bret Swanson points us favorably toward research that shows that the conventional means still used to measure countries’ economic performance are not up to adequately capturing the gains bestowed on ordinary people by today’s technologies. (HT David Levey)

Here’s my Mercatus Center colleague Dan Griswold’s case for not readmitting Russia to the G7.

There is only one flaw in Jeff Jacoby’s otherwise excellent case for not siccing the antitrust dogs on Google – that flaw being Jeff’s stated acceptance of the popular history that John D. Rockefeller, Sr.’s Standard Oil company was a monopoly. (Standard Oil did indeed have large market share, but it – like Google – continually acted to promote consumer welfare because its executives understood that potential rivals were ever-present. Large market share ≠ monopoly.)

Kathleen Parker is fully right and correct that the Trump administration’s policy of separating immigrant families at the border is barbaric, inexcusable, and vile.

Put yourself in the room with immigration officials and try to imagine exactly which argument would convince you that separating children from their migrating parents would be a good idea.

Would it work for you because you’re a stickler for obedience to rules — no exceptions? Would it be okay because the United States must convey to others that illegal migration comes with severe consequences? How about because it’s the law (as of recently), as press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters in a hollow attempt to justify what can’t be justified.

Does no one remember the atrocities that have been committed under the law?

Bob Murphy offers a clarification on whether or not Hayek supported a basic minimum income.

My GMU Econ colleague Dan Klein is cited in this essay on the resurgence in the term “classical liberal.

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