Is government a necessary institution? To answer this question, many theorists begin with an account of a state of nature in which there are no “rules” or institutions to regulate human behavior. They then compare that state of nature with outcomes that are theoretically achieved with a monopoly rule enforcer—a government. Volume 17, Number 4
The Economist ($) on the Austrians: “Early last century, economists such as Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek argued that, if interest rates were held below their “natural rate” (at which the supply of saving from households equals the demand for investment funds by firms), credit and investment will rise too rapidly and consumers will not
Here is an article from the Financial Times website, reporting on a forthcoming article in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis . It finds that Senators’ portfolios outperformed the market over time, which suggests they trade on inside information--very timely, given the whole Martha
While Congress is debating the “best” way to regulate spam the private market is developing its own means of doing so. See this CNN.com article on the current state of these private
From Eric Knauer : In the preface of Randy Barnett’s new book, Restoring the Lost Constitution , he states: “In his best-known work, No Treason, Lysander Spooner argued that the Constitution of the United States was illegitimate because it was not and could never have been consented to by the people on whom it was imposed. Although as an
Volume 7, No. 2 (Summer 2004) This paper documents and articulates Murray N. Rothbard’s contribution to our understanding of the theory and practice of socialism. We summarize his theoretical contributions and then turn to his explanation of the operation of socialism in the Soviet Union. Moreover, we make and support the conjecture that
Volume 9, No. 2 (Summer 2006) We have provided a reconsideration of the role of the economist in economic development. In doing so, we first considered the evolution of development economics to understand how the role of the economist has become what it is today. We argued that economists and policy makers alike overlook the role that
CANTOR’S DIAGONAL ARGUMENT: AN EXTENSION TO THE SOCIALIST CALCULATION DEBATE by Robert P. Murphy. The socialist calculation debate is one of the most famous episodes in the history of the Austrian School. Provoked by Ludwig von Mises’s original salvo in 1920, the debate forced socialist theorists to refine their position TOWARD A CALCULATIONAL
The Free Market 18, no. 9 (September 2000) The economic ignorance of politicians and bureaucrats never surprises me, and the recent events concerning rising oil prices are no different. Recently Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) accused the oil industry of “gouging” the public stating “It’s an increase directly attributable to profit-taking by the
In “Redrawing the Map” (New York Times, June 25th, Week in Review p. 5) Joseph Kahn discusses the World Bank’s “World Development Report.” The focus of the article is on the “schism [at the World Bank] over how to fight poverty” in the world’s developing economies. The first thing that came to mind when I read the article was Murray Rothbard’s
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.
