Some of my Christian friends are suspicious of my interest in economics. They see economics as a product of Enlightenment rationalism, along with deism, atheism, the chaos of the French Revolution and other un-Christian aspects of the modern age. So I am greatly pleased to be able to direct them to the just reissued edition of Alejandro A.
When today’s clergymen expound on issues of political economy we are often given a stark choice. Will we allow companies to selfishly pursue profits or will they recognize a wider social mission? Will workers be paid the barely subsistent market wage or will they be paid a more Christian “living wage”? Even conservative Christian voices now tell
My first exposure to formal economics came during my undergraduate degree at Washington University. I was working on an engineering degree and they required that we take some basic economics. So in 1990–1 I took Econ 103/104, introductory micro and macro economics. I found it boring, irrelevant and uninspiring. If you had told me then that I’d be
Our society holds up invention as the spearhead of progress. Those who first discover an idea are the ones who receive the Nobel Prizes and earn their places in the history books. But in Man, Economy and State , Rothbard shockingly argues that technological invention is relatively unimportant in the progress of civilization. Instead, capital is
“Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don’t. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat. I talk about the suckers and the mugs. It’s the same thing. They have their five year plans, and so have I.” Orson Welles’ mysterious Harry Lime lurks over this classic film set in post-World War II Vienna. When
The last time I heard a non-leftist argue that “false consciousness” was a legitimate concept (properly understood) was from Guido Hulsmann during a presentation at a Mises Institute conference several years ago. Now, in the latest issue of the Independent Review (Vol. VIII, Number 1, Summer 2003), Donald J. Boudreaux and Eric Crampton argue at
USA Today discusses the rise of private cities in a fascinating article today. [all italic emphasis below mine] “ These fast-growing unincorporated areas reflect a national shift toward turning some government functions over to private companies and away from multiple layers of government. For people in these areas, becoming a traditional city is
Those who have derided the Austrian school as a “cult” or as having “amen sessions” should see the Rothbard Graduate Seminar this week. It is clear that Mises and Rothbard are held in high regard. But it is also obvious that both the professors and students like nothing better than finding ways in which the masters erred. The underlying
For those interested in how the Internet is changing traditional ways of doing commerce, here’s an interesting article on publishing books electronically, “Electronic Book Experiments Continue” : “ We’re used to authors writing lengthy books for publishers, who then rely on bookstores for sales, but in the electronic book publishing world, roles
A reader sent this comment on the great Mises.org: “please give my regards to the web master. mises.org is the best streamlined site on the net. I do hope that they don’t junk it up.”
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.
