Re: Ponnuru’s query : I address this point in my book Economics for Real People : “The desire to hold cash alters prices. It is true that not everyone in the economy can put more dollars under their mattress at the same time. As there are only so many dollars in existence, everyone’s efforts to trade goods for a certain number of dollars cannot
On a recent re-reading of Mises’s Theory and History , I’m impressed at what a great book it is. And who says Mises isn’t good for a few laughs: “Of course, there have always been men who planned for eternity. For the most part the failure of their designs appeared very soon. Sometimes their constructions lasted quite a while, but their effect was
Phelp’s response is very strange. He writes: “If solid old-economy investments were being crowded out in the late 1990s, corporate interest rates net of inflation would have been elevated, which they were not.” Well, they would have been elevated, unless, of course, someone in the economy was artificially holding rates down, heh? And it’s clear
OK, folks, you’d better sit down and make sure your blood pressure is at a reasonable level before continuing. Here is Tom Nugent “debunking” some economic fallacies , with my comments interspersed: “5. What This Country Needs Is Higher Savings. “I am sure you have heard more than one economist or politician bemoan low savings rates in the U.S. as
Two days ago I took my kids out to lunch. The place I took them is essentially a hamburger joint, with a very thin veneer of New York hip added on. While we were eating, a conversation in the nearby kitchen caught my ear. What I heard was, “In the 1930s, everyone thought this problem was solved.” Wondering what sort of historical discussion was
The Free Market 23, no. 10 (October 2003) W hile listening to New York City’s CBS News Radio the other day, I was struck by the juxtaposition of two stories, apparently placed together without ironic intent. The first one was about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg visiting Staten Island to gripe about the “overdevelopment” of the borough. In his
Choice is choice between alternatives, and these alternatives must be distinguishable or they are not alternatives; moreover, one must in some way present itself as more attractive than the other, or it cannot be chosen. -- R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of Nature , p. 41 Bryan Caplan, in his widely circulated web article, “ Why I Am Not an Austrian
Click Here to view the online video version of this lecture in WMV format. Human interactions can be located on an axis running between two polar ideas, persuasion and aggression. I am not contending that this is the only way we can evaluate human action, only that it is a useful way. What do I mean by persuasion? Basically, this: When engaging
Some freedom-minded people pin their hope for liberty on withdrawing from an unfree world. In times of crisis, such as wars and recessions, this idea gains popularity. We might refer to this notion as “economic secession,” borrowing the name from John Kennedy’s article of the same title . Despairing of advancing the cause of liberty in society at
The starting point of praxeology is not a choice of axioms and a decision about methods of procedure, but reflection about the essence of action. — Ludwig von Mises, Human Action , II.3 Several times recently, I have found myself engaged, directly or indirectly, in discussions about exactly what implications follow from the fact that humans act.
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.