[Chapter 11 of The Myth of National Defense: Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production , edited by Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute, 2003), pp. 369–413.] Few people object to the private production of shoes or rock concerts. But almost everybody believes that certain goods cannot be produced on a purely voluntary
In 1990, socialism seemed to be done once and for all, but the times have changed. In the last twenty years, socialism has again become fashionable beyond the academic fringes. The covid-19 crisis demonstrated how quickly and thoroughly the traditionally free societies of the West may be transformed by small groups of determined and
I just received an intriguing email. The author suggests that Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged features Ludwig von Mises in one of the secondary roles (yet still as a hero). I had not at all seen the point that my correspondent raises, but I think he is right. When I wrote the Mises biography, I did not take the time to look up Atlas Shrugged
Monetary policy is in turmoil. Ever since the financial crisis erupted eight years ago, major central banks have fundamentally reformed the way they create and absorb money. Their activism has failed to extinguish the fires. There are already plans to equip monetary policy with new tools, such as the elimination of cash and “helicopter money” in
Tax Tyranny by Pascal Salin Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2020, 224 pp. Jörg Guido Hülsmann (guido.hulsmann@univ-angers.fr) is Professor of Economics at the University of Angers. Pascal Salin is one of the most important Continental European economists. Throughout his career, he has developed and defended the principles of a free society against
It is well known that socialism is a shortage economy. It is the economy of inefficiency and corruption, of indifferent workers and of bigwigs, of lacking spare parts, of lacking funds, of failure, of permanent reform needs and of constantly unsuccessful reforms. This concerns in particular total socialism , as it was realized in the Soviet Union
When it comes to matters of money and banking, all practical political issues ultimately hinge on one central question: can one improve or deteriorate the state of an economy by increasing or decreasing the quantity of money? Aristotle said that money was no part of the wealth of a nation because it was simply a medium of exchange in
The 1947 Mont Pèlerin Society meeting [in Switzerland] was enough to satisfy Mises’s curiosity about Europe and European scholars for quite some time. Europe lay in shambles, even Paris was in rags. He did not even wish to think about traveling to Austria. All that was good and memorable about Europe was in the past. No need for him to return to
First of all, modern man, living in a price inflationary economy, in a debt economy, tends to be short-sighted and reductionist in his vision. He tends to be short-sighted because he needs to bring money on the table every single month. He needs to service his debt. So, he cannot just lay back as our ancestors would have done in the 19th century.
[This article is the preface to the new Iranian edition of Mises’s Epistemological Problems of Economics. The book is available in English on mises.org , and in the Mises Institute book store .] It gives me great pleasure to know that this book will appear in the Farsi language, along with the introduction that I wrote twenty years ago for the
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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.