Mises Search

This year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics goes to Peter Diamond, Dale Mortensen, and Christopher Pissarides, for their work on “search theory,” especially as applied to labor markets. In the present article I’ll explain the basics of their contribution but then point out the crisis in mainstream economics: even though these economists —

Nowadays, Austrian economists are most famous for their theory of the business cycle , as developed by Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek. However, they also made many contributions to the pure theory of capital and interest, most notably in the seminal work of Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk and later in that of Hayek . In the present article we’ll see

The markets and financial pundits are all abuzz over the prospect of another round of quantitative easing — “QE2” — in which the Fed may start buying yet another trillion dollars in assets after the elections. The justification for this massive bout of new inflation is, of course, the threat of deflation . But if we actually look for ourselves, we

Over the last two years, I have gotten perhaps dozens of requests to “deal with” the deflationist approach of Mike “Mish” Shedlock . On his popular financial blog, Mish has been repeatedly patting himself on the back for correctly calling all the major trends in contrast to those economists (like Gary North and I ) who naively think Bernanke has

As many readers already know, last week I launched a campaign to pressure Paul Krugman into debating me. In just the first week, this sophomoric 7-minute YouTube video has generated $35,000 in pledges. At this point, I don’t see how Krugman will ever live this down until he debates me on Austrian versus Keynesian business-cycle theory. In the

When my book on the Great Depression came out — shortly after Obama’s inauguration — I told radio interviewers that our current economic crisis was the start of the Second Great Depression. The Federal Reserve and the government implemented the same types of policies after the housing crash as they did in the 1930s after the stock-market crash.

This week’s episode of 60 Minutes featured a 13-minute segment on “taxing the rich” in order to cure the government’s debt problem. In addition to being an outrageously biased story, the coverage was filled with more economic fallacies than I can address in a single article. “Progressive” Income-Tax Codes Lead to Volatile Revenues In the opening

World Bank president Robert Zoellick has stirred up a hornet’s nest with his recent call for a return to a gold anchor in the global financial system. The usual suspects immediately denounced him, with Keynesian Brad DeLong anointing Zoellick the “ Stupidest Man Alive .” In the present article I’ll explain the resurging interest in the yellow

Uh oh, Mr. Bernanke, the natives are getting restless. Now it’s not just Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, or foreign central bankers, but more and more American economists who are starting to openly challenge the second round of “quantitative easing.” It’s tough to rule the world, and sometimes the benighted masses get uppity. The first surprising

The national furor over the TSA’s new procedures — culminating in yesterday’s “ Opt Out Day “ — has elicited the typical response from the bureaucracy and its apologists. Why, these invasive scans and “enhanced pat-downs” are only for your good, in order to ensure safe flying. You don’t want another attack, do you? This is a false tradeoff.