In the grep cat American game of poker, the best players think in terms of mathematical expectation and long-term probabilities. It is the hallmark of a bad player to think in terms of immediate results to the exclusion of the long-term. Poker players well understand that the best players can be beaten in any specific instance. In a famous and
In the coliseum of capitalism, life or death depends on the consumer, who rules over the games. Down in the dusty pit, the gladiators battle, but keep one eye cocked on the emperor. Everything depends on his whim. Thumbs up means prosperity and bright Rolls Royce showrooms. Thumbs down signals bankruptcy and dark-paneled courtrooms. Consequently,
The cost of communication has plummeted. Costly labor-intensive media such as smoke signals, Pyramid carvings and dense hieroglyphics on large stones have yielded to the trivial costs of email. Deflation rules. Consider long distance rates. Down! Deflated like zeppelins competing with Boeing 757s. Only old-fashioned correspondence, processed by
The Eighteenth Amendment, providing for complete Prohibition in the United States, was ratified in 1919 and repealed in 1933. That is fourteen years of attempted interdiction of alcoholic beverages, from which we learned nothing. Prohibition was practiced by some states before and after the federal amendment, but it probably would never have been
New regulations that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has handed down in the wake of last Tuesday’s murderous attack include several that are arbitrary, burdensome, and unlikely to make our airplanes or airports any safer. Some of these rules have left pilots, passengers, and security experts scratching their heads. Abolishing curbside
I use quotation marks because this title is not mine: it is Tony Hayward’s. While launching British Petroleum’s Statistical Review of World Energy , [1] his Chief Executive gave a most interesting explanation of (one of) the reason(s) the price of oil went up (indeed!) in the past months and, consequently, of how this underlying problem could and
Introduction by Murray N. Rothbard We are all indebted to Carl Watner for uncovering an unknown work by the great Lysander Spooner, one that managed to escape the editor of Spooner’s Collected Works . Both the title and the substance of “Vices are not Crimes” highlight the unique role that morality and moral principle had for Spooner among the
[This article is excerpted from Let’s Abolish Government .] The free administration of justice was a principle of the common law, and it must necessarily be a part of every system of government which is not designed to be an engine in the hands of the rich for the oppression of the poor. In saying that the free administration of justice was a
As a precondition to joining the European currency, member states had to abide by quantitative fiscal criteria, explained below, sharply limiting their room to maneuver. Since the adoption of the fiscal pact and the launch of the euro, many countries chose to flaunt it, to the chagrin of others that steadfastly adhered to it. This article explains
After five months and seven rounds of contentious negotiations, the Bush administration and the American textile lobby got what they wanted: a cap on China’s booming export business in the sensitive trade. The agreement sets quotas ( or “ safeguards “ in security speak) for nearly half of the Chinese textile exports to America, such as bras, baby
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.