[ The Case Against the Fed , Chapter 8, “Problems for the Fractional-Reserve Banker: Insolvency.” (Slightly edited for publication as a separate article.)] The fractional-reserve banker, even if he violates his contract, cannot be treated as an embezzler and a criminal; but the banker must still face the lesser, but still unwelcome fact of
[This article is excerpted from An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought , vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith . ] Most people — historians not excepted — are tempted to think of economic and cultural progress as being continuous: in every century people are better off than in the one preceding. This comforting
[First published in Inquiry , November 12, 1979] A half-century ago, America — and then the world — was rocked by a mighty stock-market crash that soon turned into the steepest and longest-lasting depression of all time. It was not only the sharpness and depth of the depression that stunned the world and changed the face of modern history: it
[ The Inflation Crisis, and How to Resolve It • By Henry Hazlitt • Ludwig von Mises Institute, [1978] 2009 • 191 pages; and Beyond Boom and Crash • By Robert L. Heilbroner • W.W. Norton, 1987 • 111 pages; and Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises • By Charles P. Kindleberger • Basic Books, 1987 • 320 pages.] “If this were a
[Excerpted from An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought, vol. 1, Economic Thought Before Adam Smith . An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Jeff Riggenbach, is available for download .] The prince of proto-Keynesian money cranks, both theorist and activist, was John Law of Lauriston (1671–1729). Son of James Law, a
The Free Market 10, no. 1 (January 1992) I told you so!” may not be considered polite among Recession friends or acquaintances, but in ideological clashes it is important to remind one and all of your successes, since neither the indifferent nor your enemies are likely to do the job for you. In the case of Austrian business cycle theory,
Ludwig von Mises’ The Theory of Money and Credit is, quite simply, one of the outstanding contributions to economic thought in the twentieth century. It came as the culmination and fulfillment of the “Austrian School” of economics, and yet, in so doing, founded a new school of thought of its
Ever since Black, or Meltdown, Monday October 19th, the public has been deluged with irrelevant and contradictory explanations and advice from politicians, economists, financiers, and assorted pundits. Let’s try to sort out and rebut some of the nonsense about the nature, causes, and remedies for the crash. Myth One It was not a crash, but a
Lionel Robbins’s The Great Depression (Macmillan, 1934) is one of the great economic works of our time. Its greatness lies not so much in originality of economic thought, as in the application of the best economic thought to the explanation of the cataclysmic phenomena of the Great Depression. This is unquestionably the best work published on the
If government wishes to alleviate, rather than aggravate, a depression, its only valid course is laissez-faire—to leave the economy alone. Only if there is no interference, direct or threatened, with prices, wage rates, and business liquidation will the necessary adjustment proceed with smooth dispatch. Any propping up of shaky positions postpones
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.