I often get questions from potential writers about good topics for Mises Daily articles. Now, we carry a wide variety of topics, ranging from articles on Game of Thrones to articles on the economics of auto repair. But, if you’re wondering what topics are most likely to find a wide audience, here is the latest Pew survey of topics that people care about, and it helps give us a sense of what topics are relevant to a large number of people right now.
Note that, while its importance has slipped in recent years, “the economy” continues to be a high-priority topic. This is not surprising, and I might also note that Mises Daily articles about minimum wages and employment tend to do very well, traffic-wise. But, of course, “the economy” is a huge topic and one can imagine a seemingly endless number of case studies and current events in need of serious free-market analysis.
Other important topics, according to Pew, include health care, the environment, taxes, poverty, and lobbyists/money in politics. These are all good interesting topics that people want to know more about. (NB: The Pew survey is of Americans, but people everywhere are interested in economic prosperity, access to health care, avoiding poverty, lessenign government corruption, and not being subject to military invasion.We certainly welcome and even encourage articles on similar topics covering examples and developments from all over the globe. )
Articles on how government intervention increases poverty are some of our most popular articles ever, by the way.
The military continues to be a good topic, and I receive surprisingly little on this topic. What I do receive often falls into the “all military stuff is bad” category. And yet, law enforcement and military defense can be perfectly legitimate industries in a radically decentralized and laissez-faire society. The question is: what is it about the current military-industrial complex — specifically — that is so wasteful and prone to corruption, overreach, and abuse? Few seem interested in writing about the details and specifics of this matter. Hint: the military itself is an interest group, as are all the weapons contractors, none of whom are merely disinterested observers of DC politics. As with every topic: specifics and examples are more interesting the generalities.
And of course, the topic of monetary policy and central banks is not only an important topic, but an important topic to our core readership. Moreover, the Mises Institute provides one of the few online outlets for serious critical analysis of the Fed and other central banks from an Austrian — or even critical — perspective. Most economists fall over each other to defend central banks, so a an inventive criticism of the Fed and central banks is always welcome. Unfortunately, many important events related to the Fed and other central banks without any analysis in the pages of Mises Daily. Every FOMC announcement and every bit of Yellen testimony before Congress is a relevant occasion for commentary on the fed and central banks.
