Production Theory

The paradox of "planning" is that it cannot plan, because of the absence of economic calculation.

This paper analyzes a recently reconstructed proto-chapter of Rothbard’s Man, Economy, and State tentatively titled “Chapter 5: Producer’s Activity.” In it, Rothbard used many concepts of standard neoclassical microeconomic analysis that he would later criticize, such as perfectly competitive markets and the isolated firm.

Nell says that Austrians are too often motivated—and constrained—by the search for free-market conclusions, leading them to neglect both the problems of unregulated markets and the promise of alternative forms of organization.

This paper argues that it may be misleading to search for a direct causal effect of interest rates on the length of production because another, related factor affects it more directly. We name this factor intertemporal labor intensity...

There were many state and local elections in the US this week, but few of them will result in anything that will combat widely held and popular errors about central banking, drug prohibition, and the global environment.

Without markets, there is no way to manage scarce resources, and this includes natural resources like forests. Only markets can provide the sort of balanced long-term planning necessary to both utilize and preserve natural resources.

Interviewed by host Paul Molloy, Mark Thornton discusses the consequences of having a minimum salary of $70,000. They also discuss the negative impact of the minimum wage, and how fair wage rates are determined by the market.

Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2015.

Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 24 July 2015.

Recorded at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 20 July 2015.