Mises Search

While contemporary mythology has it otherwise, the market is not a distinct phenomenon: it is what exists when people interact and otherwise voluntarily transact with each other. The broad definition of the market is simply what people (choose to) do when they are not forced to do otherwise. So it is not surprising that even the Soviet Union,

A recently published article at The Week, titled “ How can we unleash positive animal spirits into the economy? Change the narrative ,” provides a clear example of what’s wrong with the perception of economics and why modern economic approaches, possibly aiming to amend the shortcomings “identified” by this perception, is at a loss of explaining

News media has been buzzing lately about the “Paycheck Fairness Act” sponsored primarily by Democratic elected officials in Congress. The rhetoric is exactly what one would expect: there is discrimination in the job market, observable in the “wage gap” between men and women workers (and other gender identities). So we need a law to fix this

[From Chapter 6, “The Realm of Entrepreneurship in the Market: Capital Theory, Production, and Change” in The Next Generation of Austrian Economics: Essays in Honor of Joseph T. Salerno . ]   Modern economic theory tends to treat production, the process of generating valued consumption in a market, as a function carried out within firms and so out

It’s widely agreed that we need more entrepreneurship for economic growth and a higher standard of living. But more is not always better. In fact, there can be too much of a good thing, in entrepreneurship as in so many other things. The reason is that economic growth comes from successful entrepreneurship that is also productive. And not all

Subjective value is not objective. Sounds obvious, but the distinction is lost on most — scholars and practitioners alike. People seem to think subjective value is simply a person’s ‘willingness to pay’ a price. Well, it’s not. Subjective value cannot be expressed in dollars and cents, because that would simply mean subjective value is an

Practically all critiques of markets are fundamentally ignorant and never address the actual issue. And they’ve been ignorant in the same way for about (at least?) a century. The so-called “market socialist” response to Mises’ claim that socialism (the common/public ownership of the means of production) is impossible illustrates this. Real Prices

Politics is hardly an effective force for bringing about positive change in society. Instead, real change, and especially such that changes people’s lives for the better, comes from elsewhere. It comes from business, and specifically from innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneers in the market. And very often it does so despite politics and the

Life in a startup is fast paced, varied and fun. But it is also a constant and chaotic struggle, a juggling of disparate issues that need attention and decisions to be made at a moment’s notice. There are employees who need directions, tensions that threaten to erupt into personal conflicts, the bank that keeps calling about refinancing the loan,

Tweeting about poverty and wealth is quite instructive. It’s obvious that many feel very strongly about it yet know so little. Consider what wealth is: it is to have the means to satisfy wants. Those means can be anything, including berries or fruits growing in the wild. But the vast majority of means are created. There are no hamburgers, iPhones,