... by BU’s Jeff Miron . “One of the critical questions is whether, or to what degree, prohibition actually reduces the use of a commodity that you’re prohibiting,” Miron says. “The standard assumption behind prohibition is that if you prohibit it, people won’t do it. That’s obviously not quite
In the best article ever to appear in the mainstream press on the truth (well, some of the truth) about the statist scheme called Social Security privatization, Toner and Rosenbaum note: “But behind the sweeping promise are some harsh political realities that could loom large in this fall’s debates and the final clashes of the presidential
...writes Joanna Glasner in Wired . Nonetheless, rather than turn solely to the [9/11] commission’s website to download the [9/11] report, more than 600,000 people have instead paid $10 or so for a printed copy. For the report’s official publisher, W.W. Norton & Co., it’s been an unexpected windfall. “Nobody anticipated it would sell at this
In an effort spearheaded by Sen. John McCain--and based on the shakiest of “market failure” grounds--Congress is contemplating spending $1 billion to force users of analog television to switch to digital (according to Wired News ). It helps that the government stands to gain up to $70 billion from auctioning portions of the TV spectrum to wireless
Low interest-rate policies in the loanable funds market reduce incentives to save. Perhaps it is not surprising, therefore, that bankruptcy filings for older wage earners is at an all-time high, according to a front-page article in today’s Wall Street Journal (registration required). In 2001, for instance, per capita filings of individuals ages 45
Writes Roderick Long : Q: How many Austrian economists does it take to change a light bulb? A: We don’t make quantitative predictions. I’ve just finished a week of Mises University, lecturing on apriorism, abstraction, and anarchy. It’s encouraging to see the hordes of bright, committed, hardcore Austro-libertarian students that come to these
“Look, I love international trade,” he continued. “I love India so much I’ve taken my family there on vacation. The fact is, does one transfer a job to a foreign country to provide services and products to the home market? The answer is no . This is the first time it’s ever been attempted, and it’s idiotic. “Henry Ford understood that if you pay
From USA Today : T he Justice Department is running an inquiry into how the network deals with college conferences and whether their business practices limit the exposure for some schools. ESPN spokesman Mike Soltys says the network is not commenting. “ESPN has turned sports into a utility,” says Bob Thompson, director of the Center for Study of
A recent publication by the St. Louis Fed notes the relationship between the belief in hell and economic growth. According to the secularization hypothesis, as a country’s inhabitants become richer and more educated, their faith in religion and religious institutions wanes, and they attend church less regularly. Economists Edward Glaeser and Bruce
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.
