Democratic governments utilize their monopoly on classified national security information to propagandize their citizens. Christopher Coyne explored the use of government propaganda during the War on Terror and to argue how it serves the interests of the political elite at the expense of average citizens.

Our rights – which are absolute claims against the whole world – come from our human nature, and not from the government. As such, all man-made laws that violate the natural law are illicit and cannot morally command compliance, even if all but one agrees. Thus, if all the world but one were of one view, the world would no more have the right to silence that one than he, if he had the power, would have the right to silence the world. Judge Andrew Napolitano argued that natural rights are inherent and cannot be taken away by government, emphasizing that laws violating these rights cannot morally command compliance.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why hand sanitizer was missing from your pharmacy for months after the COVID-19 pandemic hit? Why some employers and employees were arguing over workers being re‐hired during the first COVID-19 lockdown? Why passenger airlines were able to get their own ring‐fenced bailout from Congress? Ryan Bourne used the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study to illustrate key principles of economic reasoning.

Throughout most of history, the two real standards of money have been gold and fiat (government issued) money. The relatively recent creation of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies has made it possible for people to have an additional standard of cash. Is one type of money better than the others? Lawrence White compared gold, fiat money, and cryptocurrencies, discussing their stability and usefulness.

Price inflation reached a 40-year high in the United States in 2022 and became the main economic concern for the average American. Thomas Hogan discussed the root causes of inflation and how political considerations, such as climate change and income inequality, have distracted the Federal Reserve in carrying out its legally mandated goals of maximum employment and stable prices.

In November 2022, the cryptocurrency exchange known as FTX collapsed. The speed with which it collapsed was shocking, especially given the meteoric rise of the company and the reputation of its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, as an eccentric financial genius. Joshua Hendrickson explored the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and its broader implications.