In the final section of Human Action , Ludwig von Mises stressed the importance of all citizens to acquaint themselves with the findings of economic science. Unlike physics or engineering — where the scientists could safely continue with their advancements, whether or not the average person understood how they worked — economic policies as enacted
The fall of the Soviet Union should have spelled the demise of central planning, yet the socialist mentality thrives — albeit in a diluted form — in all governments in the so-called “free world.” No one explained the failures of pure socialism and of (the more moderate) interventionism better than Ludwig von Mises. Whether we want to understand
That’s what Klaus Bernpaintner tells me the Mises Institute of Sweden called this article , summarizing my debate with Karl Smith. They weren’t choosing sides, just neutrally reporting on this photo they assembled from the YouTube of the debate : I don’t think they doctored the aboveYou can draw your own conclusions from the halo and
I explain here . I really don’t understand all the mainstream economists going along with this stuff. Even if you totally believe the IPCC science, how could you trust governments around the world to implement the scheme
For months Alex Tabarrok has being doing a great job yelling to all the world that this “credit crunch” is bogus. What’s hilarious is that even his critics--see this post by Mark Thoma--rely on evidence that actually proves Alex’s case. I summarize the relevant findings in this blog post . An excerpt: During the dark days of the credit crunch,
Mario Rizzo has an interesting take on Robert Lucas’ recent essay on prediction of business cycles. Lucas’ post is quite an odd defense of the mainstream economics gurus who were caught flat-footed. Here are some good excerpts: One thing we are not going to have, now or ever, is a set of models that forecasts sudden falls in the value of financial
Prashanth Perumal insisted that I comment on this Krugman blog post from January. The reason I didn’t comment on it at the time was that my views here are rather nuanced. It’s one of those tricky situations where I agree with Krugman that his opponents are wrong, but I deny that Krugman is therefore right. In other words, Krugman’s enemies–Eugene
At my blog Free Advice , a Marine reservist who spent time in Iraq describes a post-Saddam village that is on the borderline between a very limited government and a real-world example of anarcho-capitalism. Basically, in the comments the readers who are anarchists think it is an example of anarchy, while those who say “anarchy is unstable”
Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics 19, no. 1 (Spring 2016): 101–111 [ The Midas Paradox: Financial Markets, Government Policy Shocks, and the Great Depression by Scott Sumner] The Midas Paradox is an impressive piece of scholarship, representing the magnum opus of economist Scott Sumner. What makes the book so unique is Sumner’s use of
I understand Sheldon Richman’s arguments about the term capitalism , but I think we need to watch out for the tendency to be whiners . So yes, it’s true that a lot of people think the present U.S. is the epitome of “capitalism,” and as a libertarian I don’t endorse everything. But on the other hand, the U.S. still does have a legacy of its more
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.
