[ An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (1995)] One of the most powerful influences in the legal and political thought and institutions of the Christian West during the Middle Ages was the Roman law, derived from the republic and empire of ancient Rome. Roman law classically developed in the 1st to the 3rd centuries AD.
[ From the Libertarian Forum , June 1971] New Yorkers have recently had to suffer yet another irresponsible blackjacking at the hands of power-drunk labor unions. This time it was the bridge tenders and garbage-incinerator workers who, angered at the state legislature’s balking at their receiving pensions that no private industry could afford,
“The notion that ‘Mother Earth’ would ever have cause to complain of its treatment at the hands of humans is pure mysticism.” I’ll bet you forgot to buy a card and gift, didn’t you? Boy, is your face red! Did you even know it’s International Mother Earth Day today, citizen? Socialist despot Evo Morales and his buddies at the United Nations sure
On June 3, 2011, 73-year-old Carey Dyess went on a shooting rampage in Yuma, Arizona. By the time the gunfire had stopped, 5 people lay dead, including the gunman. Almost exactly five months earlier, 23-year-old Jared Loughner had shot 6 people dead and wounded 13 more 240 miles east of Yuma in Tucson, Arizona. Among the wounded was Congresswoman
They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Indeed, a recent New York magazine article — with the dubious title “The Trouble With Liberty” — includes pithy quotes from Mises Institute president Doug French, which should appeal to open-minded readers. But even though the New York author, Christopher Beam, tries to be fair to libertarians, in
Brad DeLong recently wrote a blog post titled “Empirical Proof That America’s Libertarians Are Completely Insane.” The “proof” was that libertarian Sasha Volokh had had the audacity to suggest that it would be immoral for the government to tax people even to stop a deadly asteroid from hitting the earth. As we’ll see, DeLong misunderstood Volokh’s
This week Nelson Mandela celebrates his 93rd birthday. In honor of the event, the Nelson Mandela Foundation is asking people to donate 67 minutes of their time to public service. Although the foundation and the media reporting on it undoubtedly mean well, the entire discussion perpetuates the myth that paid work is somehow useless to society. But
In the wake of the stock-market plunge and S&P downgrade, economic pundits of all stripes are rushing to explain events. But as so often happens in economics, “believing is seeing.” Keynesians, monetarists, and Austrians can all look at the slow-motion train wreck and feel vindicated by the data. Naturally, I agree with Jeffrey Tucker that of the
I recently debated Karl Smith, a New Keynesian professor at UNC , on the possible merits of government spending (video here ). Smith brought up what I consider to be the strongest argument against the Austrian position, namely that during a recession there appear to be “idle resources.” According to the Keynesian view, if government spending could
This year’s Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics goes to two Americans, Thomas Sargent (NYU) and Christopher Sims (Princeton). Officially the award is for “their empirical research on cause and effect in the macroeconomy.” There is no doubt that these two guys are really sharp, and free-market economists can find a lot to like in much of the work of
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.