In response to an earlier post, Redmond wrote: Say what you will about Rand - many people who I have met who are interested in the Austrian School came to it through Ayn Rand. And they are young enough that
Archive for April, 2011
The Napster Experiment
There is  a debate among libertarians as to whether claims to intellectual property rights ought to be maintained. A key argument made by those in favor of such rights is that they are necessary to encourage the production of  scientific
The Unbearable Lightness of Occupational Regulation
During the past one hundred years, a myriad of occupations have become regulated by the state. In your city it is very likely that barbers need to be registered or licensed by government bureaucrats before they are legally entitled to
Comments are off for this post
The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult
With the recent release of part one in the movie trilogy of Ayn Rand’s novel Atlas Shrugged, it is worth re-reading Murray Rothbard’s unforgettable essay which once and for all revealed Rand as the kook she was. “Written in 1972, this was
Comments are off for this post
Fukuyama on the Origins of the State
Agree or disagree with Francis Fukuyama’s famous thesis that we’ve reached the end of history with liberal democracy, his books always make for stimulating and instructive reading. One hears a lot of talk in academic circles these days about the
WSJ on the Mark about Dollar Flood
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page is usually a font of wisdom. Its editorial today, “Fleeing the Dollar Flood“, lives up to that record. The WSJ editors masterfully lay out the case that escalating food prices around the world, and
Comments are off for this post
Who Really Pays the Corporate Tax?
Corporate taxes have emerged as the main dividing issue in the federal election. Conservatives want to maintain the scheduled reductions in the tax. Liberals want to reverse those and raise the tax to pay for $8.5 billion in new programs.
Comments are off for this post
An Unconstitutional Deficit?
Times are hard in the US. The federal deficit is now over a trillion (one thousand billion) dollars[ref]http://www.usdebtclock.org/index.html[/ref]. In order to fill up this bottomless pit, a dozen Republican senators have put forward an audacious proposal. They want to amend
What You Should Know About Inflation
Excerpted from What You Should Know About Inflation, Published in 1964 What Inflation Is No subject is so much discussed today — or so little understood — as inflation. The politicians in Washington talk of it as if it were
The Trouble with Prosperity
An Interview with James Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer AEN: Your argument about business cycles in The Trouble with Prosperity rests heavily on the work of the Austrian economist Wilhelm Röpke instead of the more well-known Austrians. GRANT:
So It Begins
This morning, Standard and Poors (S&P)Â lowered its outlook on US long term debt. American treasury securities currently have a triple A rating, the highest possible. The first thing that needs to be said about this is: Â it’s about time. America’s
Who Captures Whom? The Case of Regulation
Originally published Thursday, September 28, 2006, on Mises.org Last month, Mises.org republished a first-rate article written by Gary North in 1978 titled “Walking into a Trap.” To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time anyone had provided
Confirming our previous call
Please, click here to read this article in pdf format: april-18-2011 Two weeks ago, we called our readers’ collective attention towards gold, noting that: “… we think higher highs are soon to come…â€. A week ago, we expressed our concern
The Ontario Court Marijuana Decision
Opponents of laws criminalizing marijuana use received a seemingly great piece of news this week. A ruling by the Ontario Superior Court declared unconstitutional provisions of the Controlled Drug and Substance Act that prohibit the possession and production of marijuana.  A closer look at
Gold and US dollar Still Proving Austrians right
Despite the many skeptics, the gold market keeps on making new highs (see chart below) . Earlier today, it hit US $1487 per ounce. As we have mentioned on several occasions here, this price move is exactly what Austrian theory would expect,
Mises: Defender of Freedom
Today, September 29, 2006 is the one-hundred-and-twenty-fifth anniversary of the birth of Ludwig von Mises, economist and social philosopher, who passed away in 1973. Mises was my teacher and mentor and the source or inspiration for most of what I
Mises in Brazil
I’ve just stumbled upon, more or less by accident, this set of videos from the Mises Institute in Brazil. Speakers include Tom Woods Jr., Lew Rockwell, Patri Friedman, and David Friedman among others. I haven’t seen these vidoes any where
Comments are off for this post
Putting His Money Where His Mouth Is
More often than is generally realized, the assessments offered by pundits about a particular policy, or some element of the current politico-economic situation, can be translated into a money bet. An op-ed columnist, for example, who claims that the government’s failure
The Pied Piper of Hansen
Originally posted on Friday, December 11, 2009 at Mises.org It might take a while to sink in, but the global-warming cause is on the skids. Two issues are taking the whole project down: it is getting cooler not warmer (and
