[Chapter 8 of Per Bylund’s new book How to Think about the Economy: A Primer .] The Boom-Bust Cycle The economy’s constant flux is not random change but adjustments to the production apparatus in the pursuit of creating value. Value is a moving target because consumers want change over time and innovations and new opportunities. The constant
[Chapter 9 of Per Bylund’s new book How to Think about the Economy: A Primer .] By regulations, we mean restrictions imposed on the economy by government: prohibitions, license requirements, quality or safety standards, price controls, quotas, and subsidies, etc. Although they differ in their specifics and in their stated purposes, they are all
[This article is chapter 1 from Bylund’s new book How to Think about the Economy : A Primer .] Economics is an exciting field. The economics of old sought to uncover how the world works. It showed, or even proved, that there is a natural order to it. There is structure to the apparent chaos. The economy has something of a life of its own: it has
It has been just over a century since Ludwig von Mises started the socialist calculation debate, one of the main contenders for fight of the century in economic theory. The debate raged primarily throughout the 1930s, but was also active in the 1920s and 1940s. Although Austrians started and comprised the one side of the debate, historians of
Murray N. Rothbard wrote in the February 1971 issue of the Libertarian Forum that “libertarians, if they have any personal philosophy beyond freedom from coercion, are supposed to be at the very least individualists.” Indeed, libertarianism holds high the rights and responsibilities of the sovereign individual: the right to self and to justly
The new kid on the economics block is something called modern monetary theory. The name is new, but the “theory” is not. Proponents adamantly claim that it is both new and a theory of economics. To make it appear this way, they dress the ideas in unusual-sounding jargon and use rhetorical tricks. For example, instead of presenting actual arguments
The state strives for power, and what grants power is fear and dependence. The state is making people dependent on it, both as means for control and as an outcome of many policies intended to provide relief. We have seen a lot of fear and dependence in this pandemic. Fear has been the message that has propelled types of repressive policies that
In a 30 minute lecture for the Research Platform on Economic Thought, Dr. Per Bylund looks at the history of the Austrian School and its future prospects in academia and beyond.
“You do not have the right to parade through the public streets or to obstruct public thoroughfares. You have the right of assembly, yes, on your own property, and on the property of your adherents or your friends. But nobody has the ‘right’ to clog the streets.” –Ayn Rand I encountered this quote recently on one of the social media sites. To me,
Per Bylund’s new book How to Think about the Economy: A Primer is now available online , in the Mises Store , and at Amazon . It’s an excellent beginning text for anyone looking to gain a better grasp of sound economics and to better understand what makes the Austrian school method different (and better). I recently asked Professor Bylund about
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.
