The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological phenomenon whereby hostages develop irrational sympathy toward their captors even to the point of defending their captors in subsequent investigations and criminal trials. While this applies to individuals or small groups, the Oslo syndrome applies to whole national populations. In The Oslo Syndrome:
Critics of the Austrian School of economics have been throwing barbs at Austrians like Robert Murphy because there is very little inflation in the economy. Of course, these critics are speaking about the mainstream concept of the price level as measured by the Consumer Price Index (i.e., CPI). Let us ignore the problems with the concept of the
On Wednesday, January 16 the German Central Bank (i.e., Bundesbank) announced that it was going to repatriate some of its gold reserves currently being held at the New York Fed and all of its gold reserves held by the Banque de France. It had previously repatriated 940 of the 1385 tons of its gold reserves held at the Bank of England, citing high
Public opinion now favors the outright legalization of marijuana with nearly three-out-of-four adults in favor of legalizing medical marijuana . These numbers should continue to grow, because the polls exhibit a type of “generation effect,” in that people are not changing their minds as they grow older. Some prominent and diverse figures, such as
President Barack Obama is famous for many things, including two best-selling autobiographical books. In those books, he openly admitted to using illegal drugs as a young man, specifically marijuana. So, one would think that he would be amenable to reforming drug laws and sentencing guidelines, or even legalizing marijuana. Instead he has been
Slate reports in an article titled “Not That High: Today’s marijuana is too strong, and that’s bad for new business,” that the potency of marijuana is now “too high.” Writer Emma Marris’s brother is a professional chemist who tests the composition and potency for growers and medical marijuana dispensaries. Based on the information she obtained
MetLife has an ad featuring the famous comic strip character Lucy van Pelt of Peanuts . MetLife is promoting its life insurance product “for as low as $14 a month.” The bad-tempered bully Lucy responds indignantly that, “It should be five cents.” The line is based on her famous psychiatric booth where she would say “5 cents please” for anyone
[Mark Thornton is available for interviews. Send him email. ] The new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is a good movie, but it is no indictment against capitalism, as some may contend. It is rather an implicit condemnation of government prohibition. When I read the book in high school I did not like it. I found it hard to read,
Over the last century America’s money—the dollar—has come to dominate the global monetary system. It is used not just by Americans, but in other countries, in the global black market, and by importers and exporters. And it is the primary reserve currency for central banks. This status is what Barry Eichengreen calls an “exorbitant privilege,”
[Mark Thornton is available for interviews. Send him email. ] Dr. Sanjay Gupta has recently reversed his opposition to marijuana legalization and apologized for supporting marijuana prohibition. The brain surgeon and CNN medical correspondent obviously takes his own viewpoints very seriously and his mea culpa should be a big boost to the medical
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.
