Just in case it slipped by the radar of potential readers, I bring to your attention a 2003 Journal of Economic Perspectives article, “Whatever Happened to the Cambridge Capital Theory Controversies?” (I ran across the article on this blog post, cited by Gene Callahan in a recent piece. ) The article may be interesting to Austrians for a number of
For an Austrian II class we read Kinsella’s famous “Against Intellectual Property.” I generally found it to be every bit worth the hype, but naturally I can’t help but offer a few criticisms. I do so here on this blog because I don’t know of a more appropriate forum: (1) On pages 18-19, Kinsella paints a horrifying picture of an IP world. But
My wife alerted me to this surprising passage from An Unsocial Socialist . Did Mises read Shaw? (This came out in 1883.) The whole opening of Chapter X is funny, but here’s the best excerpt: Trefusis now encountered a difficulty. He wished to pay the mason the just value of his work, no more and no less. But this he could not ascertain. The only
On a recent visit to San Jose State University, I sat in on a Money & Banking lecture by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel. (I am assuming he doesn’t mind me discussing this here...) He drew a supply-and-demand diagram for the housing market, and said that due to transactions costs, the number of exchanges in the real world is actually to the left of the
This past Saturday I had a very enjoyable interview with Scott Horton, where we talked about all sorts of things that would probably interest fans of Mises.org. You might check his website for other interesting
The other day I somehow started thinking about various quirks in a private legal framework, and (unfortunately perhaps for you, dear reader) this is really the only place I could think to describe them... (1) When someone like Rothbard deduces the nature of fines for certain torts, does he ever spell out what happens when there are multiple
That was the urgent message on the letter in my college mailbox. It turns out that Dr. Friedman wants me to sign an open letter endorsing The Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition . What troubles me is the reasoning: “The report finds that replacing marijuana prohibition with a system of taxation and regulation would save the United
I have always been puzzled by the exact mechanisms through which the government keeps us from using gold as money, and my recent inquiries on a private email list of economists only confirmed my view that it is not legal tender laws per se. If I understand the laws correctly, then it seems the only thing preventing a bunch of gold bugs from moving
I’ve started a discussion with a political science professor at my college, and I thought it might be helpful to get more views. (Now not only is this guy a colleague, but he’s also used Rothbard in one of his classes, so no spitballs please.) Below I’ve excerpted some things from his latest email, and then I give a quick response. This is the
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.
