Throughout almost the entire span of human history, material privation and chronic insecurity were the norm. Not even those at the peaks of social status and political power could enjoy the creature comforts and consumer delights that “poor” people take for granted in the West today. At times, certain populations fared somewhat better — in ancient
[Independent Institute, the Beacon , April 2011] Anyone who knows me well also knows that I revere my father. Two years ago, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, I wrote a short remembrance of him as a tribute to the most important man in my life, the kind of man who might well inspire others, as he inspired me. In view of how greatly I esteem
The surge of federal economic interventions that occurred during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency — the much-ballyhooed Great Society, whose centerpiece was the War on Poverty — differed from the four preceding surges, each of which had been sparked by war or economic depression. No national emergency prevailed when Johnson took office following
[Excerpted from the Independent Review (Winter 2010). An MP3 audio file of this article, narrated by Colin Hussey, is available for download .] As the recession has deepened and the financial debacle has passed from one flare-up to another during the past year and a half, commentary on the economy’s troubles has swelled tremendously. Pundits
[Excerpted from “Regime Uncertainty,” The Independent Review 1 (4), Spring 1997.] Despite the encroachments of taxation, regulation, and other government action at all levels that had been occurring for half a century or more (Hughes 1991, pp. 92–135; Higgs 1987, pp. 77–167; Keller 1990), as late as 1932 businesspeople in general and investors
[Excerpted from “Caging the Dogs of War,” Independent Review 13 (2), Fall 2008).] Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are
What gives some people the right to rule others? At least since John Locke’s time, the most common and seemingly compelling answer has been “the consent of the governed.” When the North American revolutionaries set out to justify their secession from the British Empire, they declared, among other things: “Governments are instituted among Men,
[ Independent Review (2004)] Many of us who believe that governments continue to grow relentlessly, at least in the economically advanced countries, have been criticized by analysts who claim that in fact the growth of government has petered out or slowed substantially. The latter group perceives us to be needlessly alarmed and faults us for a
Contemporary social and economic affairs take place within a bewildering complex of regulatory restrictions and requirements. Already profuse beyond comprehension, the labyrinth grows ever more extensive. In the United States, at the federal level alone, the 4,000 to 5,000 new final rules put in place each year require some 20,000 pages of the
[ The Transformation of the American Economy, 1865–1914 ] This book, my first, was composed for the most part in 1969 and 1970 and published in 1971, exactly forty years ago. At that time, I was in my mid-twenties and had just completed my work for the PhD degree in economics at the Johns Hopkins University. At Hopkins, I had been trained
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.