Mises Search

During research for my book The Skyscraper Curse  I started using the phrase “Advanced technology.” It means a means of production that is currently beyond the capability of society or at least something that is “cutting edge.” I would argue that is also useful in terms of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) because when artificially low

THE AUSTRIAN: As Austrians, we’re often noting that we seek to explain and describe economic cycles, and not necessarily predict what’s going to happen next week. So, how would you describe and explain the state of the economy right now? MARK THORNTON: That is right. Austrian economics enlightens you about what will happen but not when and how

Timothy Hsiao recently made the rather startling case that libertarians should support the War on Drugs by claiming that recreational drug use undermines a critical precondition for freedom, namely, the ability to think clearly and to choose wisely. Hsiao notes that: Accordingly, since the government has a responsibility to protect personal

Dr. Sally Satel argues in an Op-ed for Politico that the narrative that medical doctors and pharmaceutical drug producers and distributors have caused the Opioid crisis is false. She finds that “contrary to popular belief, it is rarely the people for whom they are prescribed. Most lives do not come undone, let alone end in overdose, after

From the “Living outside the Matrix” podcast: “Dr Mark Thornton helps bring some clarity to a subject shrouded in jargon and obfuscation. He illustrates the differences between mainstream (Keynesian) economics and the Austrian

In this new interview, Claudio Grass and I discuss economic bubbles, the European Central bank, and the state of the US dollar. 

The Free Market 27, no. 5 (May 2009)   John Maynard Keynes often employed flowery language like “animal spirits” and “liquidity trap” to describe things he did not understand. He was, after all, more of a bureaucrat than an economist. In fact, he would best be described as an anti-economist because he eschewed things like supply and demand and

The Free Market 29, no. 4 (April 2011)   If we were to take the greatest economists from all ages and judge them on the basis of their theoretical rigor, their influence on economic education, and their impact in support of the free-market economy, then Frédéric Bastiat would be at the top of the list. As Murray N. Rothbard noted: “Bastiat was

The Free Market 31, no. 2 (February 2013)   Austerity has been hotly debated as either an elixir or a poison for tough economic times. But what is austerity? Real austerity means that the government and its employees have less money at their disposal. For the economists at the International Monetary Fund, “austerity” may mean spending cuts, but it

Volume 2, No. 1 (Spring 1999)   The Synergy Trap: How Companies Lose the Acquisition Game. By Mark L. Sirower. New York: The Free Press, 1997 Two of the great economic phenomena of the end of the twentieth century are the bull market in stocks and the great national and international consolidation that has taken place in a wide variety of