[First published in Left & Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought , 1967.] It was almost twenty years ago that I first met Frank Chodorov. It was at one of those luxurious but terribly dreary cocktail parties that have long served as rallying ground for the intelligentsia of the American right wing. There the more articulate of the rightists are
The Just Tax and the Just Price Costs of Collection, Convenience, and Certainty Distribution of the Tax Burden Uniformity of Treatment Equality Before the Law: Tax Exemption The Impossibility of Uniformity The “Ability-To-Pay” Principle The Ambiguity of the Concept The Justice of the Standard “Distribution of the Tax Burden,” continued Sacrifice
Economists have referred innumerable times to the “free market,” the social array of voluntary exchanges of goods and services. But despite this abundance of treatment, their analysis has slighted the deeper implications of free exchange. Thus, there has been general neglect of the fact that free exchange means exchange of titles of ownership to
[This foreword to Henry Hazlitt’s Failure of the New Economics ( available at mises.org free in PDF, ebook, and audiobook ) was first published in National Review , August 15, 1959.] For most people, economics has ever been the “dismal science,” to be passed over quickly for more amusing sport. And yet, a glance at the world today will show that
I. Basic Causes of the Revolution The historian must be more than a chronicler, a mere lister of events. For his real task is discovering and setting forth the causal connections between events in human history, the complex chain of human purposes, choices, and consequences over time that have shaped the fate of mankind. Investigating the causes
I. Introduction II. Pietism and Prohibition III. Women at War and at the Polls IV. Saving Our Boys from Alcohol and Vice V. The New Republic Collectivists VI. Economics in Service of the State: The Empiricism of Richard T. Ely VII. Economics in Service of the State: Government and Statistics Notes I. Introduction In contrast to older historians
This unsigned editorial, written by Murray N. Rothbard, appeared in the April 15, 1969 issue of The Libertarian (soon to become The Libertarian Forum ). April 15, that dread Income Tax day, is around again, and gives us a chance to ruminate on the nature of taxes and of the government itself. The first great lesson to learn about taxation is that
[This article originally appeared in the letters section of the Freeman , March 1956.] Dear Mr. Read: Congratulations on publishing the stimulating and challenging article on “ Ownership and Control of Water “ in the November issue of Ideas On Liberty. It is highly important that we think more about such fine points of complexity in our societal
[This article is excerpted from chapter 14 of The Ethics of Liberty . Listen to this article in MP3 , read by Jeff Riggenbach. The entire book is being prepared for podcast and download .] We have now established each man’s property right in his own person and in the virgin land that he finds and transforms by his labor, and we have shown that
[This article is excerpted from chapter 15 of The Ethics of Liberty . Listen to this article in MP3 .] Liberals generally wish to preserve the concept of “rights” for such “human” rights as freedom of speech, while denying the concept to private property. And yet, on the contrary the concept of “rights” only makes sense as property rights. For
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.
