At the Austrian Scholars’ Conference and again at Mises University, a number of people asked me what it takes to get into and succeed in a graduate program in economics. I hereby offer the following nuggets of wisdom to the aspiring economics graduate student. To begin, I’ll recount my own experience and mistakes in order to provide context for
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
“If the protectionists had the power to give legal effect to their convictions, they would reduce all men to the snail’s life of utter isolation.” --Frederic Bastiat Count the term “free trade” as another casualty of political rhetoric and chicanery. Free trade no longer seems to mean what the words appear to strongly imply--which is a kind of
Enron is probably still too new to draw final conclusions about what it all means. There is still too much of the tale yet to be told. Like drinking a wine that has not yet been properly aged, we risk missing the full range of flavor by rushing to pass judgment on the Enron debacle. Over time, our view of this event may be quite different from
One change in the fabric of American finance that is particularly striking over the years is the proliferation of credit and the growth of nonbank financing. The primary creditors of the nation’s debtors are not banks, but are so-called nontraditional lenders--such as GE Capital, the financial services arm of General Electric (which,
“ Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing .” —Herodotus The ancient Greeks would have appreciated the current economic problems in America. With their affinity for tragedy, the Greeks would surely have marveled at the mysteries of the business cycle, particularly the destructive power of the
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
A popular view advocates that the Fed should manage the economy so as to keep inflation in check, while also being on guard against deflation. In this view, prices must not rise too much or fall too much, but rather stay within some happy median. To borrow an oft-used expression, the ideal is seen as sort of a ‘Goldilocks economy’—not too hot and
Those who are ignorant of the blessings of private property and its love affair with freedom lurk everywhere, even in the Wall Street Journal . One columnist for the Journal, whom I will not name--let’s just call him Vladimir L.--writes often of the government’s jihad versus Microsoft. Vlad doesn’t want to shutter Windows, the company’s fine
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,
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.