The Free Market 15, no. 1 (January 1997) Which is a greater cause of cultural and moral decline: the private sector or the government? Asked another way, which is doing more to promote a return to civilized social norms: the market or the central state? The answer highlights a dividing line between left and right. Robert Bork’s book Slouching
The Free Market 15, no. 2 (February 1997) Before the mid 1950s, there was no “retirement” as we use the term today. A 1950 poll showed most workers aspired to work for as long as possible. Quitting was for the disabled. Life did not offer “twilight years,” two decades of uninterrupted leisure courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer. Just since 1960, the
The Free Market 15, no. 4 (April 1997) Washington’s sudden fixation on campaign finance won’t bring about honesty in government, and it won’t increase anyone’s liberty. But it does give the public a real-world civics lesson. For it shows that government is no neutral arbiter of justice, but a corrupt scheme by which the politically powerful
The Free Market 15, no. 5 (May/June 1997) The most encouraging trend of our time is the widespread loss of faith in government. No longer do people look to the government as the great problem solver, economic planner, social unifier, or cultural czar. The government is more likely to be seen for what it is, a haven for grafters, liars, and
The Free Market 15, no. 9 (September 1997) At last, the Republican Congress has proposed cutting death taxes. It wants the exemption to be raised from $600,000 to $1 million. Not bad for a start. But if Congress is serious about reducing the tax, the rate should immediately index the exemption to the inflation rate. If the inflation of the last
The Free Market 15, no. 12 (December 1997) ‘Seizing power is the essence of government as we know it. It’s not as easy as it once was. As public trust in government has plummeted, and resistance to central rule has grown, officials invent ever-new rationales. Here are just a few of the newest benefits the central state promises us if we
Gray Areas Mises Review 3, No. 3 (Fall 1997) ENDGAMES: QUESTIONS IN LATE MODERN POLITICAL THOUGHT John Gray Polity Press, 1997, xii + 212 pgs. John Gray is a hard man to pin down. Just when you think you have understood his position, he declares inadequate what he has advocated only moments before. Endgames thus marks a definite stage forward in
All in the Family? Mises Review 3, No. 3 (Fall 1997) MARX, HAYEK, AND UTOPIA Chris Matthew Sciabarra SUNY Press, 1995. x + 178 pgs. Within Marx, Hayek, and Utopia lies a very good book struggling to escape. Chris Sciabarra has asked a penetrating question and brought to light important material in his pursuit of an answer to it. Unfortunately, he
In Defense of Women Mises Review 3, No. 1 (Spring 1997) FEMINISM IS NOT THE STORY OF MY LIFE: HOW TODAY’S FEMINIST ELITE HAS LOST TOUCH WITH THE REAL CONCERNS OF WOMEN Elizabeth Fox-Genovese Doubleday, 1996, x + 275 pgs. Elizabeth Fox-Genovese has had an idea brilliant in its simplicity and common sense. Feminism arouses furious passions, as
The Hayekian Cul-de-sac Mises Review 3, No. 2 (Summer 1997) HAYEK AND AFTER: HAYEKIAN LIBERALISM AS A RESEARCH PROGRAMME Jeremy Shearmur Routledge, 1996, x + 257 pgs. In this outstanding book, Jeremy Shearmur approaches the thought of Friedrich Hayek from an original angle. Debates in political theory often bog down because of incompatible
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.