[ Review of Austrian Economics (1988)] Professor White’s Free Banking in Britain has already had a substantial impact on the economics profession. The main influence has been exerted by one of the book’s major themes: the “wonderful” results of the system of free banking in Scotland, a system that allegedly prevailed from 1716 (or 1727) until
[This piece ran in the Financial Post , August 3, 1999.] Economists and politicians who talk about the world economy these days are increasingly advocating a “new global financial architecture.” What many of them wish to do is give the International Monetary Fund (IMF) new powers over the world’s economies. In practice, this means giving the
It has been interesting to read reactions to the recent speech ( Deflation: Making Sure “It” Doesn’t Happen Here ) given by Fed Governor Ben S. Bernanke before the National Economists Club in Washington, D.C., on November 21, 2002. Most commentators have focused, with merit, on Bernanke’s alarmingly sanguine approach to monetary inflation as a
[Book Review: Ethics of Money Production . By Jörg Guido Hülsmann. Ludwig von Mises Institute (2008). 280 pages.] Not long ago, the lecture topic in my undergraduate course on corporate finance was ratio analysis. We were using the financial statements of a publicly traded company that day, so I began the class by demonstrating how students
The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) must be on its last legs as the reigning paradigm in finance. If not, then it has become the prefecture of certain unbending professors who pass it on to their young pupils, finance students, and MBAs (poor souls!). The latest assault, behavioral finance, is hot among practitioners and laymen, as evidenced
The salutary nature of an economic bust is how it sifts out the misallocations of capital made during the preceding boom. It thereby leaves a stronger mix of businesses better fitted to meet the needs and wants of consumers. The misallocations induced by a credit-inspired boom are built on the sandy foundations of expansive monetary policy and
Deflation is popularly defined as a general fall in prices; it is the opposite of what most people generally think of as inflation. It is most commonly associated with the Depression and with the recent economic woes in Japan. Perhaps as a result of this common association, or perhaps as a result of a more general weakness in the clarity of
“By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.” - Shakespeare, Macbeth Humphrey Neill’s little gem of a book, The Art of Contrary Thinking , was groundbreaking in at least one respect. Published in 1954, it gave the English-speaking world a new word, at least according to the lexicographers of the Oxford English Dictionary .
A common economic view predicts that the aging societies of the West portend lower economic growth in the future because these older populations are likely to save more (and consume less) than younger populations. Increased savings, then, is viewed as unfriendly for growth. Higher levels of consumption, conversely, are viewed more favorably. Also
“History is only a tiresome repetition of one story.” –William Graham Sumner Sumner was referring to the seemingly endless attempts to harness the power of the state to further one’s own ends at the expense of other people. All human types — generals, millionaires, priests, scholars and so on — have made these attempts. The disease is not confined
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.