Mises Search

On the fourth of July we pay homage to our Founding Fathers — the men who gave us our freedom. One of the greatest of these 18th century “giants” was our Nation’s first economist, Pelatiah Webster. Webster was more than an economist. He was also an ordained minister, a preacher, a teacher, a merchant, and statesman. He understood, more than most

Many leaders in high places now [1955] promise us that our government will never again permit poverty and depression to devastate our land. They propose more government spending as a cure for every economic evil. And millions of people believe that such a program will work. The underlying philosophy behind political spending is not new. Similar

Relations with Japan had been strained for some time. The Roosevelt administration was fully aware of Japan’s dependence on imports. Yet, as we have seen, it had terminated America’s long-standing commercial treaty with her. After January 1940 Japan had to ask permission on a case-by-case basis whenever she wanted to import from the United States.

[ On Freedom and Free Enterprise: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises (1956)] All varieties of (government) interference with the market phenomena not only fail to achieve the ends aimed at by their authors and supporters, but bring about a state of affairs which — from the point of view of the authors’ and advocates’ valuations — is less

[Originally published in the Freeman , November 1964, this article is included in Free Market Economics: A Basic Reader , edited by Bettina Bien Greaves.]   Back in February, 1871, a group of free enterprisers found a way to help cotton growers adjust their production to market demand. They organized the New Orleans Cotton Exchange. There, for 93

[ Understanding the Dollar Crisis (1973)] It is indeed a great honor to be brought so many miles to speak to you here this week and next. I owe my thanks to Sr. Alberto Benegas Lynch and to the Centro de Estudios sobre la Libertad . As he has said, I am a student of Ludwig von Mises. I consider him the greatest man of our century. If our

[ Understanding the Dollar Crisis (1973)]   In this lecture we address ourselves to the role of value in economics. Some people, thinking economics merely a matter of opinions, question the “value” of economists. When people are sick or have trouble with their bodies, they consult a doctor. They ask him what to do and what not to do. They take

[ Understanding the Dollar Crisis (1973)] There was once a Russian school child whose cat had a family of kittens. When asked to write a paper for her class, the child wrote about the mother cat and the kittens. The next day she read her paper to the class. In it she told about how these kittens were born. There were five of them and they were all

[ Understanding the Dollar Crisis (1973)]   This lecture is primarily on the subject of labor, wages, and employment. A good deal of what was said about prices in the last lecture applies also to the subject of wage rates. Unfortunately, there is more emotion in this area, because it is a bit more personal. Here, too, of course, we also find

[ Understanding the Dollar Crisis (1973)] The subject of this fifth lecture is the theory of money and its value. Money is the most important commodity in a market economy. A sum of money is at least one side of every market transaction. Sums of money are both sides of many transactions. In all transactions involving annuities, life insurance,