Last February, I predicted that Richard Scrushy would easily be convicted in his federal trial. However, today, a federal jury acquitted him of violating the evil Sarbanes-Oxley Act. From what I can tell, it seems to be a case of jury nullification . Scrushy was popular in the black community of Birmingham, Alabama, and about half the jury was
I received a nice set of questions on this article from a reader in Vietnam: 1. Has the US experienced bans like this (on a product that’s cheaper, tastier and presumbaly better-liked by the American consumers) before? What were they and under what circumstances? What was the outcome? It is done all the time. The United States has a program to
I’m working on an obit now of John Kenneth Galbraith, who has died at the age of 97 .. I’ll be respectful, but truthful. After all, he did oppose the war in Vietnam. However, he did believe communism to be the superior organization of
CANTOR’S DIAGONAL ARGUMENT: AN EXTENSION TO THE SOCIALIST CALCULATION DEBATE by Robert P. Murphy. The socialist calculation debate is one of the most famous episodes in the history of the Austrian School. Provoked by Ludwig von Mises’s original salvo in 1920, the debate forced socialist theorists to refine their position TOWARD A CALCULATIONAL
Politicians are well-known for saying one thing before a certain group, and the opposite when standing in front of others. For example, a Republican member of Congress may tout free markets and decry “excess government regulation” in one speech and then shamelessly call for “protection” for textile firms in his own district. Not surprisingly,
In his column today, “A Whiff of Stagflation,” Paul Krugman correctly notes that we may be in for a rise in stagflation. Unfortunately, he then goes on to demonstrate why his John Bates Clark award should be revoked. (I often have fantasized of holding a “defrocking” ceremeony for people like Krugman in which we rip the stripes from his gown, cut
An excellent story by Brian Carney: “ Use a Baton, Go to Jail .” It tells of how France’s and Germany’s music unions use the state to enforce their labor cartel, even to the point of arresting the conductors of operas who employ low-paid foreign
An economist who is also a concert pianist? Yes indeed, and here is the proof. And the pianist is playing what many people consider to be the world’s greatest piano, right in the offices of the Mises Institute. The music and performance display passion, mastery, and musical eloquence. It could easily become your favorite. Download samples .
Volume 9, No. 2 (Summer 2006) Against Leviathan would be an excellent companion reader for any economics class that deals with policy, and especially a class on regulation and the relationship between government and business. Indeed, any student or faculty member who has an interest in economics would benefit from reading this book that artfully
The Free Market 18, no. 5 (May 2000) Until a few months ago, the sum of my experience with Latin America had been a few trips to border cities like Juarez, Nogales, and Tijuana. Beyond that, I had to depend upon Dan Rather, the New York Times, and various social activist groups to find out what was true about life South of the Border. All had a
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.
