“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
Although Ludwig von Mises wrote approvingly of the just qualities of democracy, the incompatibility of democratic forms of government with wealth creation has been noted even within the institute bearing his name (e.g., Democracy—The God That Failed by Hans-Hermann Hoppe). World on Fire by Amy Chua (Doubleday 2003) is perhaps the most sweeping
The conflict over Iraq has forced certain people to show their true colors, especially neocons parading around in libertarian drag. One case in particular is the Cato Institute’s Stephen Moore, a contributing editor of National Review and head of a group cynically calling itself the Club for Growth. (Do you know many people who have publicly
Now that the regime of Saddam Hussein has passed into history, the most pertinent question is what kind of authority will emerge in its place. A U.S.-sponsored gathering of various Iraqi factions has agreed on a 13-point program , the first principle of which is that “Iraq must be democratic.” This is not the first time that the U.S. and U.K.
In previous essays, I have argued that a) we may not be measuring inequality correctly and that a proper conception of the concept may lead us to the conclusion that inequality is actually decreasing , and b) that even if inequality is increasing, it is unclear that it is necessarily detrimental to society . Here, I will show that the data on the
Freedom havens are always of interest to libertarians. For instance, the Free State Project hopes to establish liberty in our lifetime by designating a single U.S. state as the center for political downsizing and constitutional federalism. Offshore havens such as Bermuda and Vanuatu are gaining notoriety for their favorable taxation and
Statists—those who advocate concentration of economic power in centralized government—salivate like Pavlov’s dogs at the mention of economic difficulties, real or imagined. Statists of a left-liberal bent are usually louder than their counterparts on the right. Nevertheless, when the economic difficulty “bell” rings, all begin repeating the mantra
Thirty-six years as an economics professor has left my office walls lined with overflowing bookshelves. Included on my shelves are the 1974, 1978, 1981, and 1985 membership directories for the American Economic Association (AEA). Dated membership directories, even for flagship organizations like this one, figure to be irrelevant. Not in this case,
Corporate Social Responsibility is the new field that has united a variety of campaigning groups, including environmentalists, poverty campaigners, third world charities, and unions in a collective call for business to support their agenda. More unusual, it even has prominent supporters within the business community. Charitable giving by business
Free-market economists like myself attack government tax-and-spend policies as being damaging to prosperity, accusing the government of “sucking money” or “leeching resources” out of the economy. We claim that taxes damage not only the welfare of the person from whom they are taken, but the whole country. Politicians, supporters of state spending,
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.