After barely a week in full-tilt operation the “Cash for Clunkers” program has been suspended . As recently taken apart in a Mises Daily , this program is a particularly absurd example of the broken-window fallacy . But the suspension of the program has brought even more economic absurdity. Rep. Candice Miller breathlessly tells us “The thing has
The Free Market 26, no. 6 (June 2005) O ur 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
Joel On Software writes about why Computer Science college students should learn microeconomics: Why should CS majors learn econ? Because a programmer who understands the fundamentals of business is going to be a more valuable programmer, to a business, than a programmer who doesn’t. That’s all there is to it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve
Robert Wright in the New York Times today makes the case that markets are the way to bring freedom, not invasions... or sanctions. In The Market Shall Set You Free , he argues that President Bush and his neocon advisers, though professing a desire to see freedom in other countries are ignoring or threatening to impede the greatest force for
Andy Kessler of Wired wonders about American tolerance of the monopolistic US Postal Service: It’s been said that Americans will put up with anything — as long as it doesn’t involve waiting in line. And as I wasted half a day mailing a gift this past holiday season, I asked myself why that sentiment doesn’t apply to the US Postal Service. In the
The Onion asks , “Last week, the U.S. dollar dipped to a record low against the euro. What are the reasons for the currency’s decline?”. Two of my favorites from their answers: Inflation inevitable after U.S. Mint began allowing people to print $20 bills on their inkjet printers Currency markets hate freedom For less funny, but more economically
An ongoing issue in the U.S. has been controversy over the traditional Christmas time display of crèches on public property, (a crèche is a representation of the birth of Jesus often using statues of Jesus, Mary and Joseph). Some find this objectionable and sue or pass laws to stop it. Others feel like these legal measures represent the thin end
Well, it’s happened. China has severed the yuan from the dollar . Some relevant Austrian commentary: China Does Not Determine U.S. Interest Rates by Frank Shostak What’s Behind the Trade Deficit Numbers? by Antony P.
I’ve added three films to Films on Liberty and the State : The Americanization of Emily, The Man Who Would Be King and Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War dealing with war, empire and conscription respectively. Though spanning 40 years they are, I am afraid, all films for our time. The Americanization of Emily (1964) Sometimes under the guise of
The Quiet American (2002) After several decades, Graham Greene’s novel about the early days (1952) of American involvement in Vietnam is finally given a proper film adaptation. The earlier film version made in 1958, whatever its virtues, had the ending changed to be Cold War friendly in stark contrast to Greene’s novel which was trenchantly
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.
