In Michigan . Reversing more than two decades of land-use law, the Michigan Supreme Court late Friday overturned its own landmark 1981 Poletown decision and sharply restricted governments such as Detroit and Wayne County from seizing private land to give to other private users. The unanimous decision is a decisive victory for property owners who
According to the indispensable (if oxymoronic) Center for Responsive Politics , George W. Bush and John F. Kerry together raised nearly a half a billion dollars from private sources in this year’s presidential election—and both candidates received $75 million of public money on top of that. (Both candidates finished their campaigns with
Columbia’s Jeffrey Sachs knows that Africa’s economic woes have nothing to do with poorly defined property rights institutions. They have everything to do with not enough wealth transfers from rich countries to the poor. What Africa needs, then, is not more scolding from the West. It needs a ‘’big push’’ — a flood of foreign aid — to boost its
The great James Grant marks the 5th anniversary of the height of the stock market bubble in an essay in today’s New York Times , with an Austrian explanation of both the boom and the bust. An excerpt: With no lights flashing red or even amber, investors sped through the financial intersections. They paid more for houses, office buildings and junk
Says William McDonough, executive vice president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, in today’s New York Times : “Henry Ford made sure he paid his workers enough so that they could afford to buy his cars. Wal-Mart is doing the polar opposite of Henry Ford. Wal-Mart brags about how its low prices help poor Americans, but its low wages
The next pope will be a socialist in some sense, writes William Rees-Mogg , since all bishops, to varying degrees, believe that state wealth redistribution is a good thing (notwithstanding the 8th Commandment). So, Rees-Mogg suggests, the new pope should read a little Adam Smith. I concur, but I would also slip him a copy of Thomas E. Woods’
In response to my article today on Mises.org, a correspondent from Poland writes: [L]et me send you another, more direct connection: Carl Menger. He was born in Nowy SÄcz (Neu Sandec in German, this was also part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy at this time, hence you may come across this German version of the place’s name). It is a town circa
“Lots of ordinary people putting their heads together do better than small groups of experts,” writes the BBC’s Stephen Evans : If you had wanted to know who was the most likely Cardinal to be promoted to Pope you shouldn’t have relied on the pundits. Nor should you have taken any notice of the Vatican watchers who studied the arcane politics of
Well, like they say at Marginal Revolution, there are markets in everything. Checking eBay this evening, I noticed that someone is selling the domain name for www.TerriSchiavo.com, with over 22 bids so far (at over $400). (Curiously, all the other domain names up for sale have gotten no bids.) If you are interested, you can also pick up some
Real Estate. Some interesting anecdotes in this article . In Naples, Florida, some houses have been bought twice in a single day. “It just seems like everyone is doing it,” Laurie Romano, a 26-year-old self-described real-estate investor, said with a giggle as she explained why she was attending an open house this month for the Nexus, a 56-unit
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.
