According to Steven Taylor at Poliblogger.com (via Virginia Postrel and Jane Galt ), a drive is underway to re-stock the library at Baghdad U. They say they need medical, math, and science books, preferably no more than 5 years old. The effort is apparently being headed up by Dr. Safaa al-Hamdani, professor of Biology at Jacksonville State. While
Radley Balko links to a couple of pieces on the supposed link between inequality and obesity—Polly Toynbee’s claim in The Guardian that there is a causal relationship between the two and an excellent, evidence-based refutation of her claims. Let’s assume for a moment that Polly is right. Can the state fix it with income redistribution? No.
Restaurants are limiting smoking —not always because of state intervention, but because customers demand it. If anything, local “no smoking in restaurants” ordinances are anachronisms before they hit the books. The article in question has several glaring economic mistakes (what articles don’t?), but it offers a nice summary of how the market for
From the Dynamist Blog , Virginia Postrel directs us to her latest column in the NYT . The moral of the story: trade increases productivity. By definition, higher productivity makes everyone richer because we’re producing more stuff with fewer inputs. There’s an important policy lesson here: a lot of the money governments are spending on
from Radley Balko, writing for foxnews.com . It’s a story that most Mises.org readers know, that anyone who reads NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof knows, and that anyone who paid attention in an economics class knows: sweatshops are a godsend for the sweatshop worker. Unfortunately, of course, there are many among us who do not read Mises Institute
As BBC and CNN report (and as Jeff Tucker blogs below), Krispy Kreme’s stock plunged when investors found out that the low-carb craze is affecting doughnut demand. This is unacceptable. I know free traders will say that this is clearly good. After all, meat prices are rising. Butchers, cattle ranchers, and grocers all around the country benefit
Godwin’s Law: as the number of people engaged in a debate or discussion increases, the probability of a reference to Hitler or the Nazis approaches one. There are two important corrolaries: The first person in a debate to compare his opponent’s position to Hitler/Nazis loses. Once a discussion reaches comparisons to Hitler/Nazis, it is no longer
Wal-Mart opens in poor communities ? You’re kidding. Who would’ve guessed that a deep discounter specializing in off-brand products and requiring a low-productivity workforce would overlook downtown San Francisco and midtown Manhattan as target markets? Of course, I’m sure the “negative and significant relationship” between Wal-Mart presence and
I’ve never been to Portland, but it’s supposed to be the crown jewel of enlightened, progressive urban development. From what I gather, “enlightened, progressive urban development” means cramming tons of people into small spaces and protecting pristine wilderness from human encroachment. Magically, this will somehow produce upper-middle class jobs
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.