There is no clash between Locke’s libertarian concerns and devotion to “classical virtue.” Devotees of liberty, property, and free markets have generally been moralists as well as adherents of a free-market economy, writes Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995). T his audio Mises Daily is narrated by Jeff...
Audio Mises Daily
Audio recordings of Mises Daily articles.
The most obtrusive champion of the neopositivist program concerning the sciences of human action was Otto Neurath, who, in 1919, was one of the outstanding leaders of the short-lived Soviet regime of Munich and later cooperated briefly in Moscow with the bureaucracy of the Bolsheviks, writes Ludwig...
If we were to award a prize for “brilliancy” in the history of economic thought, it would surely go to Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, the baron de l’Aulne (1727–1781). His career in economics was brief but brilliant and in every way remarkable, writes Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995). This audio Mises...
The technique of the historicists’ indictment of capitalism is simple indeed. They take all its achievements for granted but blame it for the disappearance of some enjoyments that are incompatible with it and for some imperfections that still may disfigure its products, writes Ludwig von Mises (1881...
The leading Baconian in political economy, who was also, fittingly, a pioneer in statistics and in the alleged science of “political arithmetic,” was the fascinating opportunist and adventurer Sir William Petty (1623–1687), writes Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995). This audio Mises Daily is narrated by...
Modern economics traces all human actions back to the value judgments of individuals. It never was so foolish, as Myrdal charges, as to believe that all that people are after is higher incomes and lower prices, writes Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). This audio Mises Daily, excerpted from the audiobook...
The status and reputation of Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626) is one of the great puzzles in the history of social thought. What had he actually accomplished to warrant all the accolades? Essentially, he was the metaempiricist, the head coach and cheerleader of fact grubbing, exhorting other people to...
In their eagerness to eliminate from history any reference to individuals and individual events, collectivist authors resorted to a chimerical construction, the group mind or social mind, writes Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). This audio Mises Daily, excerpted from the audiobook version, is narrated...
Thomas Mun set forth what would become the standard mercantilist line. He pointed out that there was nothing particularly evil about the East India Company trade. The company imported valuable drugs, spices, dyes, and cloth from the Indies, and it re-exported most of these products to other...
Nature does not generate peace and good will. The characteristic mark of the “state of nature” is irreconcilable conflict. Each specimen is the rival of all other specimens. The means of subsistence are scarce and do not grant survival to all, writes Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). This audio Mises...
For hundreds of years, politicians (like a certain current US president) have pushed the idea that one man’s profit is another man’s loss. The job of the state is to even the score. Mises explains that the whole assumption is wrong at its very core. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Jeff...
Rothbard shows that Gresham’s law was introduced not by Sir Thomas Gresham but by the “arrogant, boorish, and feisty” Sir Thomas Smith the Elder (1513–1577), a bitter critic of debasement who was exiled from the court in 1549. He fought back with a book. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Jeff...
It seems now that almost everyone, from journalists to academics to clergy, relies unthinkingly on Marxian doctrines. Their deterministic ideas seem impervious to any argument. Of course, they’ve never read Ludwig von Mises. This audio Mises Daily, excerpted from the audiobook version, is narrated...
Rothbard’s vast published output does not exhaust his thinking and writing. To the contrary, a large number of important items have never been published. Many of these are reports he wrote for the William Volker Fund, writes David Gordon. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Steven Ng.
Carried through consistently, the right of property would entitle the proprietor to all the advantages that the good’s employment may generate — and all the disadvantages resulting from its employment, writes Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
English justifications of absolutism stressed time and again that the subjects must obey the king in any and all circumstances, whether or not the king or his actions were good or evil, writes Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995). This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.
There is no such thing as interests independent of ideas, preceding them temporally and logically. What a man considers his interest is the result of his ideas, writes Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). This audio Mises Daily, excerpted from the audiobook version, is narrated by John Pruden.
These documents are a joyful alternative career of Rothbard’s writings and research, and as such inherently one of the most valuable (and most fun) intellectual resources of the past century, writes Brian Doherty. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Steven Ng.
Critics condemn economic theory for disregarding the role that power plays in real life. Real man, they say, is not free to choose and to act: it is not his value judgments but the forces of power that determine market phenomena. These objections are no less spurious than all other statements of the...
Marx and Engels, two men of unquestionable bourgeois background, hatched the class ideology of the proletarian class. They believed their adversaries could only be either bourgeois idiots or proletarian traitors, writes Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). This audio Mises Daily, excerpted from the...
