[ 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
[Editor’s Note: Is the Iraq War over oil? Chuck Hagel, who was just nominated for Secretary of Defense, thinks so; or at least he did in 2007. And, for neocon Bill Kristol, that’s a big problem . Michael Moore responded to Kristol , quoting several conservative pundits who basically agreed with Hagel. One of the pundits quoted was Ann Coulter, who
[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
One of many virtues of the free economy is its flexibility. It is able to adjust to changing tastes, technology, and resource availability. In a living economy, property rights are secure but the uses to which they are “assigned” is in continual flux. Market signals embody individuals’ subjective valuations of goods and services, and of money
In his recent Wall Street Journal editorial titled “Help the Third World Help Itself” (November 29, 1999), Kofi Annan advanced a statist agenda for improvement in the developing world. This is what we would expect from the acting secretary-general of the United Nations. Improvement necessarily always begins with government for people in positions
An important part of the argument for free markets is the idea that the market is self-regulating. In other words, a free market would develop its own ways of protecting consumers and enforcing fair play. This development is one of the more intriguing aspects of a free market. In the absence of a government authority or agency, private groups
The Times (London) Friday, March 26, 1999 Two cheers for Colonel Tony Benn Nato was set up to fight a war in Europe. The Red Army invades, Nato fights back; Turks fight for Norway, French fight for Greece. What an extraordinary irony it is that Nato should not, in the event, have had to fight any war in Europe, but then chose, after the Cold War,
The slowdown of the American economy and the ensuing devaluation of the US dollar deliver gloomy headlines as timely as weather forecasts. The weakening currency may excite entrepreneurs anticipating increased exports. As well, it might have a stimulating effect for American professionals who are paid in return for our services. However, the
I am often asked about the “peak oil” theory. I’ve even had some people send me junk mail predicting when the date would come. Sometime in June, 2006, I recall. (Unsolicited investment advice: go very long!) I didn’t really pay attention. And yet many do. There are websites, books, email lists, conferences, and tracts of every sort promoting this
[Chapter 2, Away From Freedom ] Since Keynesians advocate so many forms of government intervention in the name of “full employment,” it is not surprising to find them favoring it for other purposes. If government should take a man’s earnings because he wants to save too much, why should it not take them on the ground merely that someone else
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.