In 1944, Ludwig von Mises published one of his least-known masterworks: Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War . Drawing on his prewar experience in Vienna, watching the rise of the national socialists in Germany (the Nazis), who would eventually take over his own homeland, he set out to draw parallels between the Russian
“We have progressively abandoned the freedom in economic affairs without which personal and political freedom has never existed in the past.” (F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom ). Economic thinking today is divided into many schools of thought, such as the following : the Keynesians, the Post- Keynesians, the Rational Expectations School, the
Here’s one for conspiracy theorists. Steven R. Kangas was a sworn enemy of the Austrian School of economics, and furious user of Mises.org. He devoted a section of his “Liberalism Resurgent” website to “debunking” the economics of Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard. His Myths of the Austrian School is available for perusing. His elaborate text is shot
Contrary to what Krugman says in his attack on Austrian business cycle theory in Slate , the Austrian or Misesian business cycle theory is not about the creation of too much capacity, but rather about the generation of uneconomic investment or malinvestment. It is about the use of scarce real funding contrary to the wishes of consumers i.e. the
The Free Market 16, no. ( 1998) No sooner is John Maynard Keynes declared irrelevant for modern economics than some establishment figure declares him the god of the age. It happened again, in the pages of Fortune Magazine (August 17, 1998). The writer was MIT’s Paul Krugman, one of the most famous economists alive. His article, “Why Aren’t We
Austrian business cycle theory has become the subject of a raucous debate. It began with an article by Austrian journalist Gene Epstein , writing in Barron’s about the work of Keynesian Paul Krugman of MIT. Krugman blasted back in the pages of Slate with a hit on the Austrians that fails to fully understand the theory. Excerpts follow: * * * * *
From Gene Epstein of Barron’s Re: Paul Krugman’s piece, “The Hangover Theory”: I’m undoubtedly the unnamed journalist he mentions in his lead, since my recent article about him did take him to task for ignoring the Austrian theory of business cycles. Accordingy, I’d like to correct his arguments and even a few of his facts. Krugman is probably
Barron’s December 14, 1998 “A few weeks ago,” began a recent article by MIT economist Paul Krugman in the online magazine Slate , “a journalist devoted a substantial part of a profile of yours truly to my failure to pay due attention to the ‘Austrian theory’ of the business cycle -- a theory that I regard as being about as worthy of serious study
Politicos around the world are prattling about the glories of the “third way.” The idea, embraced by the heads of state in the U.S., Britain, and Germany, is to combine economic efficiency with “social justice” (meaning high taxes, welfarism, and oppressive regulations). In short, it’s just another name for the status quo. Ludwig von Mises
Comedian Steve Martin once did a standup act in which he asked the audience in an incredulous tone, “You mean, you don’t remember when we had nuclear war and the earth was wiped out?” The audience would laugh, as expected, since the entire idea was ridiculous. While Steve Martin isn’t writing columns about the current global financial dealings, he
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.