Forbes.com published this article yesterday . It’s based on my paper “ Economic Calculation in the Environmentalist Commonwealth .” Here’s the gist: private property and prices are necessary for rational economic calculation; therefore, without private property we cannot know what responsible environmental stewardship even means. Bringing more
One of the things I love about my job is the opportunity to talk to people who represent a wide range of disciplinary and ideological perspectives about ideas, even when it is only for a couple of minutes. Anarchy was a topic that came up today, and it is a subject that economists are exploring in fascinating detail. I’ve been revising my paper
You might have read the story about the Socialist Alarm Clock. Here’s one version . A friend who wishes to remain anonymous sent his libertarian version and asked me to post it (cross-posted at Division of Labour and The Beacon): “This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock built by the ingenuity of millions of individuals all working for their
My Forbes.com article proposing that we abolish the TSA has gotten a surprising amount of attention; it’s up to almost 70,000 views with over 3,000 Facebook shares and 500 tweets. Not bad for an article that’s about 18 hours old. Here are a couple of additional thoughts to further the conversation: 1. Airport security is necessary . I repeat:
One of the most important differences between the political process and the market process is that they provide totally different feedback mechanisms. Had the politicians largely responsible for the housing crisis done their dirty deeds while working for private firms, they would have been fired, likely prosecuted, and memorialized in cautionary
My latest Forbes piece is about the ongoing strife in Wisconsin. Here are a couple of additional thoughts based on what I’ve observed: 1. Disagreement is not evidence of corruption . Ad hominem attacks are not arguments. They’re exercises in intellectual laziness. Slurs aimed at “Koch Heads” and “Koch Whores” are clever, but they don’t add much to
I take a lot of my inspiration for public writing, blogging, etc. from George Mason University’s Don Boudreaux. Over the last several years, Professor Boudreaux has waged a prolific letter-writing campaign for economic literacy. Here’s an excellent example in which he dissects the claim that capitalism is too materialistic. I plan to incorporate
With the minimum wage set to increase tomorrow, these videos of Walter Williams are worth considering (HT: Don Boudreaux). Public Schools: Minimum Wages and Occupational Licensing: Welfare: Cross-Posted at Division of Labour and the
I spoke to the local Campaign for Liberty group last night and wanted to thank everyone who made it an excellent event. It was everything a speaker could want: a large and enthusiastic crowd (they said they counted 72 people, I think), great conversation, and excellent questions peppered with healthy skepticism. My long-run optimism is, perhaps, a
Here’s my Division of Labour co-blogger (and fellow Wash U economics PhD) Michael Munger doing his usual kvetching about this or that pointless and expensive invasion of privacy . As there have now been naked pictures of me taken at several airports (San Francisco, most recently), all I can say to poor Mike is that these encroachments on and
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.
