Man’s Natural Rights and the Limits of Government In The Law Frédéric Bastiat presents the irrefutable maxim that man’s rights exist prior to the formation of the state and that, therefore, the collective action of the state cannot conflict with man’s prior rights. According to Bastiat, man can delegate to the state only those powers that he
No change. Oh, you want more? Groucho Marx used to tell a joke on himself that “I wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would admit me as a member.” That pretty much sums up why we shouldn’t expect much from the new chairman of the Federal Reserve System. This administration and this Congress will never admit anyone that is not of the
Members of an Austrian School of economics forum to which I belong have been discussing the source of economic progress. It began with the usual elements of capital, technological development, and managerial expertise before getting more philosophical when a member suggested the acceptance of rationality in all things. I felt this was not a proper
Wrongheaded governmental interventions are preventing the world’s largest economies from recovering from massive malinvestment. Japan, currently the world’s third-largest economy, has had zero growth for 20 years. A good case can be made that the United States has had zero growth for ten years, because the so-called growth of the first decade of
The term energy encompasses a plethora of technologies, and each attracts the gimlet eye of Big Brother. In recent years environmental groups have been very successful in insinuating themselves into the halls of government so that today there is a revolving door between government and the environmental movement. And it’s just like the revolving
In this small gem of a book Professor Philipp Bagus of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid has given us much more than an explanation of why the euro will fail the common man in Europe. He has given us a grand lesson in power politics and economic reality that is applicable throughout the world at all times and all places. The title of his book
Feel the need for a good, old-fashioned horror story, one that will make your hair stand on end? Maybe one that will cause bile to rise in your throat? Well, don’t bother to reread William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist , Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein , or Bram Stoker’s Dracula . For a detailed account of the descent of an entire country into despair
During my spring break from the University of Iowa, where I am teaching free-market economics, I made a trip to Europe to speak about the current financial situation. Godfrey Bloom, a member of the European Parliament (MEP), sponsored my trip. Godfrey, who has been following my blog for some time, is a noted free-market economist himself. He is a
Through their power to control banking, central banks are unnecessary barriers to commerce. Even those who have spent their entire lives in banking, often in positions of great importance and responsibility, assume that cooperative exchange of goods and services requires a central bank’s oversight. But consider a typical trade, whether foreign or
When Britons voted on June 23, 2016 on whether or not to leave the EU there was no discussion of a “hard or soft Brexit”. These terms were invented after Brexit passed by a surprisingly large margin and the mostly anti-Brexit Tory Party government, especially its leadership, decided that it needed to negotiate the terms of leaving. Brexit
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.