This article is also available as an Audio Mises Daily Martin Wolf is the chief economics commentator at the influential Financial Times . He has received numerous honorary awards, positions, and degrees. My first knowledge of him came from a friend who had attended a lecture where Mr. Wolf mentioned that the best research on real estate economics
An Interview with Mark Thornton From CNN to Barron’s to Le Monde , Mark Thornton has been featured as an authority on how record-setting skyscrapers signal impending economic downturns. Last month, Dr. Thornton spoke with us about the Skyscraper Index and the Skyscraper Curse. Mises Institute: The Skyscraper Index, which shows a correlation
We live in a world of massive monetary inflation and extremely low interest rates. Mortgage rates are near historic lows and yet it seems that people cannot get loans . Home sales are up, but with a near record percentage of sales made with cash , rather than a mortgage. The unemployment rate is nearing “full employment” and yet a record number of
Here is a link to an interview of James Grant and James Rickards on the return to the gold standard. I love the response line to the bogey about returning to the gold standard is going backwards. Rickards responds that if you are headed in the direction of going over a cliff, than going backwards is a good thing. ht:
The movie is good. Take a look at the trailer here . It seems like an accurate history of J. Edgar Hoover’s life, from what I know. He was clearly a fascist and a psychotic of various sorts. His use of drugs late in his life reminded me of Hitler. He was constantly plotting to get more money, power, and authority for the FBI. He was also
Paul Krugman is at it again . This time attacking Ron Paul and his Austrian economics (probably a very good sign). He claims that Ron is only consistent because he ignores reality. In fact, “reality” has only demonstrated the correctness of Ron’s views. His first attack is on the idea that paper money is the root of all economic policy evil. Well
Niall Ferguson the famous Harvard historian appears to be reading Mises.org. Not only is his Newsweek article painfully realistic regarding the prospects for the American Empire, but he also quotes Paul Krugman–the exact same quote that Ben Lee dug up and published on Mises.org . =========================== From page 3-4 of Ferguson: Now, who said
I just came across a letter from a mainstream economics journal from 2003 rejecting my paper “Skyscrapers and Business Cycles.” It reads in part that “this journal focuses upon specification and testing of formal macro and monetary models and does not publish papers like yours in which the theorizing and testing is more casual-descriptive than
While the real world has switched from defined benefit pension plans to defined contribution plans (e.g. IRAs, 401k), much of government still uses defined benefit plans where retirees receive regular pension checks based on a formula. The problem today is that many public systems are underfunded and are having difficulties remaining viable. The
The financial panic that has engulfed the planet is considered by politicians, bureaucrats, journalists and mainstream economists to be a problem of regulation. I find myself in the uncomfortable position of having to agree with this gang of opinion makers, but it is not a problem of insufficient regulation, inadequate regulation, unenforced
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.