Libertarianism is both old and new. It is rooted in ancient ideas of natural justice, fairness, peace, and cooperation. You could even say that any civilized society is already somewhat libertarian. After all, civilization requires peace and cooperation, which imply respect for others’ rights. This is what the libertarian seeks. To be sure, there
In previous decades libertarians viewed intellectual property as a boring and technical area of the law, the province of legal specialists. They also assumed it to be a legitimate, if arcane, type of property in a capitalist, free-market society. After all, it’s in the Constitution, and Ayn Rand blessed it. But we don’t ignore it anymore, and we
Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe burst onto the Austrolibertarian scene in the late 1980s, when he moved to the United States to study under and work with his mentor Murray Rothbard. Since his arrival, Professor Hoppe has produced a steady stream of pioneering contributions to economic and libertarian theory. A key contribution of Professor Hoppe is
[The Freeman , June 2011] Advocates of free-market capitalism commonly believe in the legitimacy of intellectual property (IP) because IP rights are thought to be important to a system of private property. But are they? There are good reasons to think that IP is not actually property — that it is actually antithetical to a private-property,
Austrolibertarianism begins with Murray Rothbard. His mentor Ludwig von Mises systematized Austrian economics and put it on a modern, rigorous foundation. Rothbard built on, and extended, this Misesian-praxeological Austrian framework, and he integrated it with his own radical anarchocapitalism to produce the superstructure of modern
I have discussed in previous posts to the Mises Economics Blog the historical background of the modern ( and growing ) libertarian IP abolitionist movement ( “The Origins of Libertarian IP Abolitionism” ; “The Four Historical Phases of IP Abolitionism” ; see also “The Death Throes of Pro-IP Libertarianism” ). We can divide the history into four
In an email exchange with Walter Block a few years ago, in response to some pessimistic comments I had made about the prospects of our libertarian movement, he wrote me, Dear Stephan: I never feel like dropping out. Never. No matter what. To me, libertarianism is a most beautiful thing, right up there with Mozart and Bach. Illegitimi non
It’s increasingly recognized that our current patent system is “broken.” Billions are paid in ransom to patent aggressors. Patent lawyers are enriched. Patent trolls have emerged. Competitors, like Android smartphones and tablets, are shut down or delayed by entrenched patent oligopolists. While some confused souls argue that patents create jobs
El profesor Hans-Hermann Hoppe apareció en la escena austrolibertaria a finales de la década de los ochenta, cuando se mudó a Estados Unidos para estudiar y trabajar con su mentor Murray Rothbard. Desde su llegada, el profesor Hoppe ha producido una corriente continua de contribuciones pioneras a la teoría económica y libertaria. Una contribución
El austrolibertarismo empieza con Murray Rothbard. Su mentor Ludwig von Mises sistematizó la economía austriaca y la asentó sobre un cimientos modernos y rigurosos. Rothbard construyó encima y extendió este marco austriaco praxeológico-misesiano y lo integró con su propio anarcocapitalismo radical para producir la superestructura del pensamiento
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.