Mises Search

A few years ago, March 2000 in fact , I came across an e-mail that was impossibly dumb.  It called for a “Gas-Out.”  The idea was to boycott gasoline for a few days. This action would drive the price of gas down, and at the same time, it would show “Big Oil” that if they tried to raise prices again, we’d hurt them. The increase in gas prices have

When economic times are good, people pay very little attention to the work of economists. Only when an economy experiences a downturn do people come to economists asking how this latest disaster happened and how do we get out of it. Unfortunately, the economist tends to speak in a cryptic language using references to things like the NAIRU, the

Oh joy, oh joy! It has finally arrived! You wouldn’t believe how excited I was to receive a letter from the Social Security Administration. In the letter, they dutifully showed me how much taxable income I have ever made. (Is it me, or is there something really creepy about that?) They showed me how much I have paid in taxes and how much my

The Austrian theory of the business cycle has been gaining attention in the popular press and in political circles since the onset of the most recent recession (December 2007). While the artificial boom and subsequent malinvestments fit the Austrian theory, the question in the popular press is, “Which economic policy is the best to alleviate the

After much thought on this topic, I have decided that the best way to deal with the more than $14.3 trillion national debt is through partial repudiation. Why? It is not an easy story to tell without some context, but I will try my best to be clear. Each year after my daughter’s birthday in May, the family heads to the beach for a week of sun and

Presented at the Austrian Scholars Conference 2008. Abstract : This paper examines whether intellectual property rights are possible under a libertarian system. It considers the arguments of Murray Rothbard and Stephan Kinsella. Rothbard has developed one of the most complete systems of rights in his Ethics of Liberty , and Kinsella has become a

If one reads the headlines you might think that since the yield curve has inverted, the economy is in a recession, Trump will be swept from office and then the Progressives’ goals are right around the corner.  Not so fast!  While much of that may still happen, we are not there yet. While some on the Left (see Bill Maher ) may be openly hoping for

We have been locked down for weeks. Classes have been canceled. Only essential activities are allowed. Although there is much to cover and analyze, I want to focus on the economics of the situation. To understate it, the situation today is simply not good. The COVID-19 crisis has caused the world to lock down the population, which essentially

Of all the areas that economics students need to master, counterfactual reasoning is near the top of the list. Counterfactual reasoning is outlining and comparing the differences and similarities between two alternatives. While everyone uses counterfactual reasoning, such as choosing what to have for lunch, economists look at deeper and more

 “As long as it is kept within certain limits, inflation is an excellent psychological support of an economic policy which lives on the consumption of capital.” (Ludwig von Mises, Socialism , pp. 448-9) What causes economic growth? Is it a reduction in tariffs? Is it a cut in tax rates? Is it cutting red tape and bureaucracy? While each might