<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://mises.org/Community/utility/FeedStylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"><channel><title>Austrian Economics</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/default.aspx</link><description>User-contributed articles on Austrian Economics &amp;amp; Libertarianism</description><dc:language>en-US</dc:language><generator>CommunityServer 2008.5 SP2 (Build: 40407.4157)</generator><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 12:39:50 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:170</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 5/14/2012 7:39:50 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Business&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Cycle&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;ABCT&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=265oV44C7EA" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2011)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzExlEsIKk"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smashing Myths and Restoring Sound Money&lt;/em&gt; | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4Os5eXPw4"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory &lt;/em&gt; | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.&lt;/a&gt; (excerpt from &lt;a href="http://mises.org/media/3108/"&gt;Why You&amp;#39;ve Never Heard...&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU-FXv2VlK0"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Business&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Cycle&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;5&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;min&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24127.aspx"&gt;Have I correctly described ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/15660.aspx"&gt;Refutations of The Austrian Business Cycle/Austrian Economics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;Correcting Quiggin on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/38.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:03:03 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:10812</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 38 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 12/3/2011 9:03:03 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=265oV44C7EA" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2011)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzExlEsIKk"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smashing Myths and Restoring Sound Money&lt;/em&gt; | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4Os5eXPw4"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory &lt;/em&gt; | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.&lt;/a&gt; (excerpt from &lt;a href="http://mises.org/media/3108/"&gt;Why You&amp;#39;ve Never &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Heard...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Heard..&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24127.aspx"&gt;Have I correctly described ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/15660.aspx"&gt;Refutations of The Austrian Business Cycle/Austrian Economics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;Correcting Quiggin on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/37.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 04 Dec 2011 03:02:10 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:10033</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 37 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 12/3/2011 9:02:10 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=265oV44C7EA" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2011)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzExlEsIKk"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smashing Myths and Restoring Sound Money&lt;/em&gt; | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4Os5eXPw4"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Business&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Cycle&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Theory&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/em&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;|&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Thomas&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;E&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Woods&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Jr&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;excerpt&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;from&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://mises.org/media/3108/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Why&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;You&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ve&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Never&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Heard...&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24127.aspx"&gt;Have I correctly described ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/15660.aspx"&gt;Refutations of The Austrian Business Cycle/Austrian Economics&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;Correcting Quiggin on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/36.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:27:56 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:10032</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 36 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 9/1/2011 7:27:56 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=265oV44C7EA" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2011)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzExlEsIKk"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Smashing Myths and Restoring Sound Money&lt;/em&gt; | Thomas E. Woods, Jr.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24127.aspx"&gt;Have I correctly described ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/15660.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Refutations&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Business&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Cycle/Austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Economics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;Correcting Quiggin on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/35.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:20:36 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:9381</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 35 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 9/1/2011 7:20:36 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=265oV44C7EA" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2011)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAzExlEsIKk"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Smashing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Myths&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Restoring&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Sound&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Money&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;|&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Thomas&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;E&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Woods&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Jr&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24127.aspx"&gt;Have I correctly described ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;Correcting Quiggin on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/34.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:29:04 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:9380</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 34 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 8/17/2011 4:29:04 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=265oV44C7EA" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Theory&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Trade&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Cycle&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;|&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Roger&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;W&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Garrison&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;2011)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Austrian&lt;/span&gt; Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24127.aspx"&gt;Have I correctly described ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;Correcting Quiggin on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/33.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 08:58:08 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:9265</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 33 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 7/29/2011 3:58:08 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24127.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Have&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;I&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;correctly&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;described&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ABCT&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;Correcting Quiggin on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/32.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:03:52 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:9093</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 32 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 6/1/2011 6:03:52 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3466/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Correcting&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Quiggin&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Business-Cycle&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Theory&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/31.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 May 2011 10:10:03 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:8561</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 31 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 5/18/2011 5:10:03 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;ABCT in a few minutes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;My explanation of the business cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/30.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 18 May 2011 10:08:54 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:8375</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 30 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 5/18/2011 5:08:54 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/19895.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ABCT&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;few&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;minutes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/24551.aspx"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;My&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;explanation&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;business&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;cycle&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;Can Austrian Theory Explain Construction Employment?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/29.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 06 Apr 2011 00:45:43 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:8374</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 29 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 4/5/2011 7:45:43 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4989/Can-Austrian-Theory-Explain-Construction-Employment"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Can&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Theory&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Explain&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Construction&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Employment&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/28.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:15:43 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7945</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 28 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 2/13/2011 8:15:43 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;reading&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;learning&lt;/span&gt; materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory reading materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/27.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:12:46 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7450</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 27 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 2/13/2011 8:12:46 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;learning&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;reading&lt;/span&gt; materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory learning materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/26.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 13 Feb 2011 14:09:57 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7449</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 26 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 2/13/2011 8:09:57 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;reading&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;learning&lt;/span&gt; materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;My Reply to Krugman on Austrian Business-Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory reading materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/25.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 13 Feb 2011 13:27:39 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7448</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 25 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 2/13/2011 7:27:39 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory reading materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;strong&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4993"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;My&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Reply&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Krugman&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Business-Cycle&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Theory&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Austrian Business Cycle Theory reading materials</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/austrian-business-cycle-theory-learning-materials/revision/24.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 06 Feb 2011 07:55:47 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7447</guid><dc:creator>John James</dc:creator><description>Revision 24 posted to Austrian Economics by John James on 2/6/2011 1:55:47 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory reading materials&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Business Cycle, ABCT&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="books_and_essays"&gt;
	Books and Essays:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2669/The-Austrian-Theory-of-the-Trade-Cycle-and-Other-Essays"&gt;The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Richard M. Ebeling&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5057/Austrian-Macroeconomics-A-Diagrammatical-Exposition"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Macroeconomics: A Diagrammatical Exposition&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison &amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/680/Monetary-Theory-and-the-Trade-Cycle"&gt;Monetary Theory and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/681/Prices-and-Production"&gt;Prices and Production&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Friedrich A. Hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/store/Time-and-Money-P452.aspx"&gt;Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/79/Time-and-Money-The-Universals-of-Macroeconomic-Theorizing"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Time and Money: The Universals of Macroeconomic Theorizing&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Roger W. Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2668/Economic-Depressions-Their-Cause-and-Cure"&gt;Economic Depressions: Their Cause and Cure&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/5773/An-Essay-on-Economic-Theory"&gt;&lt;i&gt;An Essay on Economic Theory&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt;, by Richard Cantillon, translated by Chantal Saucier, edited by Mark Thornton&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="single_chapters_from_books"&gt;
	Single chapters from books:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/2031/Economics-for-Real-People"&gt;Economics for Real People - Chapter 13 - Times are Hard: On the Causes of the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Gene Callahan&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/694/Americas-Great-Depression"&gt;America&amp;#39;s Great Depression - Chapter 1 - The Positive Theory of the Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Murray N. Rothbard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/resources/1209/Human-Action-The-Scholars-Edition"&gt;Human Action - Chapter 20 - Interest, Credit Expansion, and the Trade Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; by Ludwig von Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="audiovideo"&gt;
	Audio/Video:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhoFOyy7rbo" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2009)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFqtTj7TeO0" title="Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle | Roger W. Garrison"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Roger W. Garrison (2010)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkDYsRDah3I"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Austrian Economics and the Business Cycle&lt;/em&gt; | Robert P. Murphy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HegiGuJlzTQ"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Austrian School on Business Cycles : 100 Years of Being Right&lt;/em&gt; | Mark Thornton&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="other_materials"&gt;
	Other Materials:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/literature.aspx?action=subject&amp;amp;ID=12"&gt;Mises.org: Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.auburn.edu/%7Egarriro/tam.htm"&gt;Time and Money&lt;/a&gt;: Powerpoints by Roger Garrison&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_forum_threads"&gt;
	Related forum threads:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/18620.aspx"&gt;What is &amp;quot;must read&amp;quot; for understanding the ABCT?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3 id="7185e6029e"&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;h3 id="related_misesorg_articles"&gt;
	Related Mises.org articles:&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/103"&gt;Contra Krugman&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/104"&gt;In Defense of Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/105"&gt;Epstein Responds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/485"&gt;Boom and Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/606"&gt;Business Cycle Primer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/630"&gt;The Hangover Theory?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/672"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory: A Brief Explanation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1131"&gt;Expectations and Austrian Cycle Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1186"&gt;Sound Money and the Business Cycle&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1558"&gt;Why the Business Cycle Happens&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1658"&gt;A Nobel Prize for Not Much&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1664"&gt;Why Business Cycle Theory Matters&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/1730"&gt;If You Are So Smart...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2673"&gt;Why Don&amp;#39;t Entrepreneurs Outsmart the Business Cycle?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2728"&gt;The Worst Recession in 25 years?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/2845"&gt;Did Capitalism Cause the Great Depression?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3155"&gt;The Importance of Capital Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3387"&gt;Austrians Can Explain the Boom and the Bust&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/3579"&gt;Hangover Theory: How Paul Krugman Has Misconceived Austrian Theory&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4072"&gt;Austrian Business Cycle Theory and Global Crisis&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin-left:40px;"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-size:12px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://mises.org/daily/4682"&gt;Putting Austrian Business-Cycle Theory to the Test&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:22:51 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:105</guid><dc:creator>Mr FixIt</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by Mr FixIt on 6/10/2011 8:22:51 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Gold&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Money&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Standard&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;FAQ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Deflation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Investment&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://custom-essay.ws/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;essay&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.thesiswritingservice.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;thesis&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;halloween&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;contacts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;a href="http://www.diamondlinks.net/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;link&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;building&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;a href="http://articles.ensogo.com.ph/restaurant-deals-how-to-get-them-and-enjoy-great-meals/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Restaurant&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Deals&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/18.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 06 Jun 2011 06:45:12 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:8657</guid><dc:creator>kramnella</dc:creator><description>Revision 18 posted to Austrian Economics by kramnella on 6/6/2011 1:45:12 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://custom-essay.ws/index.php"&gt;essay writing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;halloween&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;contacts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
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</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/17.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 20 Apr 2011 20:48:21 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:8597</guid><dc:creator>DavidConway</dc:creator><description>Revision 17 posted to Austrian Economics by DavidConway on 4/20/2011 3:48:21 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://custom-essay.ws/index.php"&gt;essay writing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.thesiswritingservice.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;thesis&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/16.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:09:08 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:8095</guid><dc:creator>Melany11</dc:creator><description>Revision 16 posted to Austrian Economics by Melany11 on 1/28/2011 7:09:08 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;a href="http://custom-essay.ws/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;essay&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/15.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:04:55 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7313</guid><dc:creator>TheSacricolist</dc:creator><description>Revision 15 posted to Austrian Economics by TheSacricolist on 11/12/2010 3:04:55 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.writemypapers.org/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Papers&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;  &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php" title="halloween contacts"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;halloween&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;contacts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt; &lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/14.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:39:41 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6565</guid><dc:creator>garydavid</dc:creator><description>Revision 14 posted to Austrian Economics by garydavid on 10/26/2010 4:39:41 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.writemypapers.org/"&gt;Papers writing service&lt;/a&gt;  and &lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php" title="halloween contacts"&gt;halloween contacts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;u&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt; &lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/13.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:38:56 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6421</guid><dc:creator>garydavid</dc:creator><description>Revision 13 posted to Austrian Economics by garydavid on 10/26/2010 4:38:56 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.writemypapers.org/"&gt;Papers writing service&lt;/a&gt; &lt;u&gt; and &lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php" title="halloween contacts"&gt;halloween contacts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt; &lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/12.aspx</link><pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 09:37:54 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6420</guid><dc:creator>garydavid</dc:creator><description>Revision 12 posted to Austrian Economics by garydavid on 10/26/2010 4:37:54 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.writemypapers.org/"&gt;Papers writing service&lt;/a&gt; &lt;u&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php" title="halloween contacts"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;halloween&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;contacts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/11.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:20:13 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6419</guid><dc:creator>Green911</dc:creator><description>Revision 11 posted to Austrian Economics by Green911 on 10/18/2010 4:20:13 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;, or &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp; Certainly the effort you&amp;#39;d have to put into buying a car (microscopes, nanotubes in the first case, perhaps a crane in the second) would change, and whatever means you are using to store your own money would have to adjust, but clearly, the answer is yes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. As gold catches on as money again, its usefulness and therefore its value will rise.&amp;nbsp; The 4.5 trillion number is now dated, and perhaps 9 trillion is more accurate, and this is because more and more people are realizing that gold makes a better currency than fiat currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;If in a deflationary economy, a nominal investment (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10, when it is repaid it &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.writemypapers.org/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Papers&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;u&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/u&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/10.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:08:19 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6341</guid><dc:creator>dscotese</dc:creator><description>Revision 10 posted to Austrian Economics by dscotese on 9/28/2010 10:08:19 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Asbestos&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Lawsuit&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Tampa&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Criminal&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Attorney&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;answer&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;this&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;should&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;be&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;consistent&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;with&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;resume&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;theory&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;should&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;answer&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;or&lt;/span&gt; &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Certainly&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;effort&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;you&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;d&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;have&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;put&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;into&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;buying&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;car&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;microscopes,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;nanotubes&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;first&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;case&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;perhaps&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;crane&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;second&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;would&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;change&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;whatever&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;means&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;you&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;are&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;using&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;store&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;your&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;own&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;money&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;would&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;have&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;adjust&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;but&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;clearly&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;answer&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;yes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;custom&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;company&lt;/span&gt;. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;For&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;purposes&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;transition&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;price&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;As&lt;/span&gt; gold &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;can&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;be&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;adjusted&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;fiat&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;if&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;necessary&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;)&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;all&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;central&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;bank&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;money&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;holders&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;can&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;convert&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;their&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;catches&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; money &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;into&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;again&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;its&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;usefulness&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;therefore&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;its&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;value&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;will&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;rise&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;4.5&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;trillion&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;number&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;now&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;dated&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;perhaps&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;9&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;trillion&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;more&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;accurate&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;this&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;because&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;more&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;more&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;people&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;are&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;realizing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; gold &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;makes&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;better&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;currency&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;than&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;fiat&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;currency&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/c-8-ephedra-diet.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;ephedra&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.americanhomemoving.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;local&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;moving&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;company&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;So&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;If&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; a deflationary economy&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; a nominal &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;return&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;investment&lt;/span&gt; (i.e., $1) becomes $&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;1.10&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;1.10,&lt;/span&gt; when &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; repaid &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/9.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:07:01 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6193</guid><dc:creator>Frederic1</dc:creator><description>Revision 9 posted to Austrian Economics by Frederic1 on 9/27/2010 1:07:01 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
	&lt;p&gt;
		&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to this should be consistent with the &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;resume writers&lt;/a&gt; theory, as should the answer to, &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs by &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom writing company&lt;/a&gt;. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. For purposes of transition, the price of gold can be adjusted (by fiat if necessary) to that all central bank money holders can convert their money into gold.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/c-8-ephedra-diet.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ephedra&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.americanhomemoving.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;local&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;moving&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;company&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	So a deflationary economy a nominal return (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10 when repaid &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/8.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:29:37 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6172</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 8 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:29:37 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Natwest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Egg&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Alliance&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Leicester&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Bank&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://tiffanybadges.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Name&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Badges&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
	&lt;p&gt;
		&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to this should be consistent with the &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;resume writers&lt;/a&gt; theory, as should the answer to, &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs by &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom writing company&lt;/a&gt;. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. For purposes of transition, the price of gold can be adjusted (by fiat if necessary) to that all central bank money holders can convert their money into gold.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	So a deflationary economy a nominal return (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10 when repaid &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/7.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:29:24 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6130</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 7 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:29:24 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Tampa&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Criminal&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Attorney&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Natwest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Egg&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Alliance&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Leicester&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Bank&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://tiffanybadges.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Name&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Badges&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
	&lt;p&gt;
		&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to this should be consistent with the &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;resume writers&lt;/a&gt; theory, as should the answer to, &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs by &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom writing company&lt;/a&gt;. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. For purposes of transition, the price of gold can be adjusted (by fiat if necessary) to that all central bank money holders can convert their money into gold.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	So a deflationary economy a nominal return (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10 when repaid &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/6.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:27:48 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6129</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 6 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:27:48 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Asbestos&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Lawsuit&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
	&lt;p&gt;
		&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to this should be consistent with the &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;resume writers&lt;/a&gt; theory, as should the answer to, &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs by &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom writing company&lt;/a&gt;. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. For purposes of transition, the price of gold can be adjusted (by fiat if necessary) to that all central bank money holders can convert their money into gold.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	So a deflationary economy a nominal return (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10 when repaid &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/5.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 24 May 2010 23:38:43 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6128</guid><dc:creator>davismax</dc:creator><description>Revision 5 posted to Austrian Economics by davismax on 5/24/2010 6:38:43 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
	&lt;p&gt;
		&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, one could ask the question, &amp;quot;Could one ounce of gold serve as the monetary base?&amp;quot;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to this should be consistent with the &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;resume&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; theory, as should the answer to, &amp;quot;If gold became as common as aluminum, would it still be useful as money?&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Similarly, if gold, which is a useful commodity is found to cure cancer, the non-monetary value of gold would cause a shift in the desirability to use it as currency... rather than a life saving cure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A fundamental tenet to the Austrian analysis is an understanding of the origin of money. Gold became the most useful commodity to use as currency because of its particular characterisitcs &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;custom&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;company&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. No one decided to use gold, it was just the best thing available at the time, and perhaps it still is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The suitability of gold as a monetary base is the result of a number of different market factors. One of the factors is the value per weight. If it falls to that of aluminum or lead, then storage costs alone will undercut the usefulness of this element as currency. Silver may take its place. The fundamental truth, however, is that the commodity chosen by the market should be the one in use as currency.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The market seems to choose gold, and the shifts in its supply and value over the generations have not deterred them. One thing that people trust about gold is the relatively stable supply of it. It makes the value of gold somewhat predictable. A&amp;nbsp;large shift SHOULD result in a market evaluation, but historically, these shifts have been fairly stable.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	However, saying that &amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot; amount of gold will be enough to act as a medium of exchange misses the point. The market is fully capable of running on gold, but it wouldn&amp;#39;t have evolved that way if gold did not have the characteristics that make it ideal for monetary exchange. If you posit a RADICAL change to those characteristics, such as supply, you will cause the market to re-evaluate its usefulness.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	If India acquired ALL of the gold, that wouldn&amp;#39;t mean we had no alternatives for a monetary base. All land and capital can serve as money, because money is just a type of capital. Indeed, land or commodity baskets may be preferred by the market outside an environment of market interference. Gold is a fantastic currency base, but it is far from the only one.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. For purposes of transition, the price of gold can be adjusted (by fiat if necessary) to that all central bank money holders can convert their money into gold.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	So a deflationary economy a nominal return (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10 when repaid &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&lt;img height="247" width="372" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&lt;img height="218" width="372" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="247" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&lt;img border="0" height="218" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Gold as Money: FAQ</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/gold-as-money-faq/revision/4.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:47:53 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:5220</guid><dc:creator>Joseph E Hammer</dc:creator><description>Revision 4 posted to Austrian Economics by Joseph E Hammer on 3/7/2010 7:47:53 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Gold as Money: FAQ&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Gold, Money, Gold Standard, FAQ, Deflation, Investment&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Some responses to common objections about the use of gold as money:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;1. There simply is not enough gold for it to be used as money.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is just like saying &amp;ldquo;we cannot possibly measure the size of microbes because inches are too large&amp;rdquo;.&amp;nbsp;An excellent counterpoint to this&amp;nbsp;line of thinking&amp;nbsp;is to ask &amp;ldquo;what amount of gold will make it acceptable for use as money?&amp;rdquo;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hoppe writes:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Once a money is established, any stock of money becomes compatible with any amount of employment and real income. There is never any need for more money since any amount will perform the same maximum extent of needed money work: that is, to provide a general medium of exchange and a means of economic calculation by entrepreneurs. [&lt;a href="/story/2492#i2"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#004477;"&gt;Source&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The total amount of gold that has ever been mined is 142,000 tonnes. If half of that gold disappeared, it would still be viable to use as money, and prices of goods would simply adjust downward to fit the quantity of money.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;However&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;one&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;could&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ask&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;question&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;Could&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;one&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ounce&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;serve&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;monetary&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;base&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;answer&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;this&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;should&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;be&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;consistent&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;with&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;theory&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;should&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;answer&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;If&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;became&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;common&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;aluminum&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;would&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;still&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;be&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;useful&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;money&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Similarly&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;if&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;which&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;useful&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;commodity&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;found&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;cure&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;cancer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;non-monetary&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;value&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;would&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;cause&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;shift&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;desirability&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;use&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;currency..&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;rather&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;than&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;life&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;saving&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;cure&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;A&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;fundamental&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;tenet&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;analysis&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;an&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;understanding&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;origin&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;money&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;became&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;most&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;useful&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;commodity&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;use&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;currency&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;because&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;its&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;particular&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;characterisitcs&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;No&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;one&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;decided&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;use&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;was&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;just&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;best&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;thing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;available&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;at&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;time&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;perhaps&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;still&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;suitability&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;monetary&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;base&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;result&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;number&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;different&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;factors&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;One&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;factors&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;value&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;per&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;weight&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;If&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;falls&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;aluminum&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;or&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;lead&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;then&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;storage&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;costs&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;alone&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;will&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;undercut&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;usefulness&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;this&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;element&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;currency&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Silver&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;may&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;take&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;its&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;place&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;fundamental&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;truth&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;however&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;commodity&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;chosen&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;should&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;be&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;one&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;use&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;currency&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;seems&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;choose&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;shifts&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;its&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;supply&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;value&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;over&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;generations&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;have&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;not&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;deterred&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;them&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;One&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;thing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;people&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;trust&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;about&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;relatively&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;stable&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;supply&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;It&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;makes&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;value&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;somewhat&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;predictable&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;A&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;large&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;shift&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;SHOULD&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;result&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;evaluation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;but&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;historically&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;these&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;shifts&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;have&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;been&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;fairly&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;stable&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;However&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;saying&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;ANY&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;amount&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;will&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;be&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;enough&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;act&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;medium&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;exchange&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;misses&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;point&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;fully&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;capable&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;running&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;but&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;wouldn&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;t&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;have&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;evolved&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;way&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;if&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;did&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;not&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;have&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;characteristics&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;make&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ideal&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;for&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;monetary&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;exchange&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;If&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;you&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;posit&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;RADICAL&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;change&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;those&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;characteristics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;such&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;supply&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;you&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;will&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;cause&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;to&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;re-evaluate&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;its&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;usefulness&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;If&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;India&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;acquired&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ALL&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;gold&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;wouldn&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;t&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;mean&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;we&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;had&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;no&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;alternatives&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;for&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;monetary&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;base&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;All&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;land&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;capital&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;can&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;serve&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;as&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;money&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;because&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;money&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;just&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;type&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;capital&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Indeed&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;land&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;or&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;commodity&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;baskets&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;may&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;be&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;preferred&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;by&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;outside&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;an&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;environment&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;market&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;interference&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Gold&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;a&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;fantastic&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;currency&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;base&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;but&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;far&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;from&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;only&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;one&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;2. At current market prices, all the mined gold on earth is worth $4.5 trillion. This is much less that all the currency that has been printed in the whole world!&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The price of gold in terms of pieces of paper is irrelevant. After all, fiat currency notes can be printed with very little effort at all. For purposes of transition, the price of gold can be adjusted (by fiat if necessary) to that all central bank money holders can convert their money into gold.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;3.What&amp;rsquo;s stopping you from using gold as money now?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Legal tender laws. Central bank money is legal tender for all debts, public and private. Your taxes are payable in central bank money. Contracts in gold coins will not be defended in the same way as contracts in dollars or euros&amp;nbsp;(e.g. if somebody defaults on a gold contract, compensation may be payable in central bank money)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;4. The money supply must grow at the same rate as the economy.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No it doesn&amp;rsquo;t. Prices are not independent of the money supply. The quantity of the money supply overall does not matter (See 1.). If the amount of goods and services increases, while the money supply stays fixed, prices of all goods and services will fall.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;5. But deflation is bad, isn&amp;rsquo;t it? If the purchasing power of money constantly rises, doesn&amp;rsquo;t that mean an end to investment? Entrepreneurs will surely&amp;nbsp;prefer to safely hide their money under the matress instead of taking the risk of investing.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Falling prices are surely&amp;nbsp;a good thing!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The answer to the second question is no. While it is certainly &amp;ldquo;risk-free&amp;rdquo; to keep your money under the bed, it comes with a very real opportunity cost. Investors have a peculiar trait: they prefer goods in the future to goods in the present. In other words they forego consumption today and prefer a larger return later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So a deflationary economy a nominal return (i.e., $1) becomes $1.10 when repaid &lt;i&gt;compounds&lt;/i&gt; the &lt;i&gt;real&lt;/i&gt; return (i.e., the purchasing power of $1.10 is now $1.21)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The desire for future goods will increase the desire for investment.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;b&gt;6. When did falling prices ever&amp;nbsp;coincide with&amp;nbsp;economic prosperity?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The period between 1873 and 1896&amp;nbsp;in Germany and the United States was a time of deflation. Prices for goods fell at an annualised rate of 1.6%. Gross Domestic Product grew at an annualised rate of 3.6%.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Innovations in manufacturing, chemistry and railroads made the 1880s the most productive decade in the history of the United States - and one of the most prosperous.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" width="372" border="0" height="247" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&lt;img src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" width="372" border="0" height="218" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&lt;img height="247" width="372" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_29d5c0dc.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=247" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&lt;img height="218" width="372" src="http://irishliberty.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/line_30cd1f761.png?w=372&amp;amp;h=218" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Further Reading&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Rothbard, Murray N.; &lt;a href="/story/1829"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#004477;"&gt;The&amp;nbsp;Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hulsmann, J. G.; &lt;a href="/story/3231"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#004477;"&gt;Deflation and Liberty&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Sources&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hoppe, Hans-Hermann; The Misesian Case Against Keynes&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Measuringworth.com (charts and figures)&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Hat tip to Graham of the Irish Liberty Forum for his insights &lt;a href="http://www.politics.ie/economy/41625-gold-standard-4.html#post1395504"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#004477;"&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cheers to David Z for his insghts &lt;a href="/Community/forums/p/5553/76783.aspx#76783"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#004477;"&gt;here&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:30:28 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:63</guid><dc:creator>Peter Sidor</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by Peter Sidor on 1/28/2011 7:30:28 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp; In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;resume&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/27.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 28 Jan 2011 13:06:30 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7315</guid><dc:creator>Melany11</dc:creator><description>Revision 27 posted to Austrian Economics by Melany11 on 1/28/2011 7:06:30 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp; In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;resume&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writer&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/26.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:00:39 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:7312</guid><dc:creator>TheSacricolist</dc:creator><description>Revision 26 posted to Austrian Economics by TheSacricolist on 11/12/2010 3:00:39 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Asbestos&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Lawsuit&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Tampa&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Criminal&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Attorney&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Natwest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Egg&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Alliance&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Leicester&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Bank&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Name&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Badges&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp; In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/25.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 21:00:39 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6564</guid><dc:creator>TheSacricolist</dc:creator><description>Revision 25 posted to Austrian Economics by TheSacricolist on 11/12/2010 3:00:39 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;*&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Natwest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Asbestos&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Lawsuit&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Tampa&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Criminal&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Attorney&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Natwest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Egg&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Alliance&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Leicester&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Bank&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.cashgiftingcritter.com"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Fast&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Cash&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Online&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;services&lt;/span&gt;work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;phentermine&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;online&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;pest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;control&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp; In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;The&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Cathedral&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;and&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Bazaar&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;an&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;custom&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;essay&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;on&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;open&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;software&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;for&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;halloween&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;contacts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/24.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:20:15 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6563</guid><dc:creator>randybosh</dc:creator><description>Revision 24 posted to Austrian Economics by randybosh on 10/28/2010 4:20:15 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	*&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;/a&gt; l&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;Egg Loans&lt;/a&gt; l &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;Alliance Leicester Bank &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://www.cashgiftingcritter.com"&gt;Fast Cash Loans Online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else, &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;phentermine online&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;, &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;pest control service&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software for &lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php"&gt;halloween contacts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/23.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 28 Oct 2010 09:19:31 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6445</guid><dc:creator>randybosh</dc:creator><description>Revision 23 posted to Austrian Economics by randybosh on 10/28/2010 4:19:31 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;/a&gt; l&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;Egg Loans&lt;/a&gt; l &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;Alliance Leicester Bank &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://www.cashgiftingcritter.com"&gt;Fast Cash Loans Online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else, &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;phentermine online&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;, &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;pest control service&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;for&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.discount-lenses.com/halloween-contact-lenses.php" title="halloween contacts"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;halloween&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;contacts&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/22.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:45:21 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6444</guid><dc:creator>venn99</dc:creator><description>Revision 22 posted to Austrian Economics by venn99 on 10/25/2010 1:45:21 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	*&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;/a&gt; l&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;Egg Loans&lt;/a&gt; l &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;Alliance Leicester Bank &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://tiffanybadges.com/"&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Name&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Badges&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cashgiftingcritter.com"&gt;Fast Cash Loans Online&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else, &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;phentermine online&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;, &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;pest control service&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/21.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:44:13 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6412</guid><dc:creator>venn99</dc:creator><description>Revision 21 posted to Austrian Economics by venn99 on 10/25/2010 1:44:13 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	*&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Fast&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Cash&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Online&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else, &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;phentermine online&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;, &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;pest control service&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/20.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:02:35 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6411</guid><dc:creator>Frederic1</dc:creator><description>Revision 20 posted to Austrian Economics by Frederic1 on 9/27/2010 1:02:35 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;phentermine&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;online&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;pest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;control&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;phentermine&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;online&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;pest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;control&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/19.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 27 Sep 2010 17:59:45 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6171</guid><dc:creator>Frederic1</dc:creator><description>Revision 19 posted to Austrian Economics by Frederic1 on 9/27/2010 12:59:45 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	*&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;/a&gt; l&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;Egg Loans&lt;/a&gt; l &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;Alliance Leicester Bank &lt;/a&gt;l&lt;a href="http://tiffanybadges.com/"&gt; Name Badges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.shoppharmacycounter.com/t-phentermine.aspx" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;phentermine&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;online&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://whitepestcontrol.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;pest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;control&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;Further Reading&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/18.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:31:36 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6170</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 18 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:31:36 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	*&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Egg&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	Further Reading&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/17.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:31:15 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6132</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 17 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:31:15 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	Further Reading&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/16.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:26:38 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6131</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 16 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:26:38 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;http://affordablelegalfees.com/&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;http://loannatwest.com&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;http://loansegg.com&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;Egg Loans&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;http://loansallianceandleicester.com&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;Alliance Leicester Bank &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;http://tiffanybadges.com/&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://tiffanybadges.com/"&gt; Name Badges&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	Further Reading&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/15.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:26:24 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6127</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 15 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:26:24 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Asbestos Lawsuit l Tampa Criminal Attorney l Natwest Loans l Egg Loans l Alliance Leicester Bank l Name Badges&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/&lt;/span&gt; Asbestos Lawsuit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
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	&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;http://loansegg.com&lt;/span&gt; Egg Loans&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;http://loansallianceandleicester.com&lt;/span&gt; Alliance Leicester Bank&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;
	&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;http://tiffanybadges.com/&lt;/span&gt; Name Badges&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	Further Reading&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/14.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:25:48 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6126</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 14 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:25:48 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Asbestos&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Lawsuit&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Tampa&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Criminal&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Attorney&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Natwest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Egg&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Alliance&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Leicester&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Bank&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Name&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Badges&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;Asbestos Lawsuit &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;Tampa Criminal Attorney&lt;/a&gt; l&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; Natwest Loans &lt;/a&gt;l &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;Egg Loans&lt;/a&gt; l &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;Alliance Leicester Bank &lt;/a&gt;l&lt;a href="http://tiffanybadges.com/"&gt; Name Badges&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	Further Reading&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>A World Without Intellectual Property</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-world-without-intellectual-property/revision/13.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:23:41 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6125</guid><dc:creator>kaith</dc:creator><description>Revision 13 posted to Austrian Economics by kaith on 9/22/2010 10:23:41 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;A World Without Intellectual Property&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There are many good reasons to completely repeal patents and copyright laws:&amp;nbsp; they are too complex to be understood or obeyed by anybody except a&amp;nbsp;highly trained Intellectual Property (IP) attorney, they are often used for predatory purposes, they impede innovation since a patented invention cannot be improved by a third party. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Additionally, because one firm holds a monopoly on the patented product, competition diminishes bringing with it the high prices and low quality of all monopoly services. &amp;nbsp;Intellectual property is also very expensive to enforce since it requires surveillance and enforcement on millions of consumers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Nevertheless, some continue to support IP rights under the following mantras:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;Authors of IP should be paid for their work&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;IP supports investment and innovation in R&amp;amp;D departments&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		&lt;i&gt;An industry with no IP would lose productivity&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	T&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;his article attempts to answer those and other objections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_fashion_industry"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Fashion Industry&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;If we removed IP law from the fashion industry, what would be the effect on this industry, which thrives on creativity and new design. Would innovation and creativity cease? Would companies like WalMart copy fashions the second they were created and undercut the brilliant producers behind the scenes? Would the market stagnate?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The answer is &amp;quot;No&amp;quot; for a very simple reason. The fashion industry is not covered under the blanket protection that IP law provides so many other industries. The creativity and variety that are the hallmark of this industry are the results of natural market evolution, without any IP protection. WalMart already does copy the designs straight from the runway.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="advertising_revenue"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Advertising Revenue&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The elimination of IP law would have a dramatic effect on advertising revenue. While it could be argued that many companies would continue to receive such funding, some will not. In the event that every television show, every song and every book were made public domain, then there would be two options for funding the distribution.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;First, there are the traditional channels. This would use your viewing time to pay for the service of hosting and delivering the content. The authors of such content would not necessarily be paid from these funds, but it may be sufficient to run a bunch of servers producing on demand content.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Second, fee for use hosting and peer based sharing could serve as the distribution mechanism. It would be hard to deliver a service that interrupted the show every fifteen minutes to advertise when the same content could be gotten elsewhere without the annoyance. This may cripple or even destroy many firms which fund their operations from advertising revenue.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="the_electronic_accreditation_technique"&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;The Electronic Accreditation Technique&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.theasbestosattorney.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Asbestos&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Lawsuit&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://affordablelegalfees.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Tampa&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Criminal&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Attorney&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://loannatwest.com"&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Natwest&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://loansegg.com"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Egg&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Loans&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://loansallianceandleicester.com"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Alliance&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Leicester&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Bank&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;l&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="http://tiffanybadges.com/"&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Name&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Badges&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Under this paradigm, all media would be stamped with a unique signiture that maps back to the authoring group or individual author. Tools could be cheaply created that allow you to donate directly to any producers you like. Like DRM, this stamp would be&amp;nbsp;unique and tamper proof. Unlike DRM, it would not encrypt the media in any way.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;This would require very simple integration with media playing software and can be set up to donate 5/10/25 cents to anything you rate highly enough... at your choosing.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Accreditation can be used alongside copyright or as a replacement. This type of producer compensation is made possible by current technology and may provide a suitable producer targetted&amp;nbsp;replacement for the business friendly copyright laws.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="books_amp_newspapers"&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:normal;"&gt;Books &amp;amp; Newspapers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine you run a major book publisher. &amp;nbsp;You publish a book, but then --whoops-- somebody clear across the country (or across the world) starts printing the same&amp;nbsp;work. &amp;nbsp;Because you don&amp;#39;t have exclusive control over your content, you cannot pay your authors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Major newspapers, on the other hand, produce new content on a daily (or weekly) basis, print millions of copies, and have them on their customers&amp;#39; doorsteps before&amp;nbsp;anybody else has a chance to copy their work. &amp;nbsp;Because of this, they don&amp;#39;t need a government-enforced monopoly on their content.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In centuries past, authors used to have their books published one chapter at a time in major periodicals. &amp;nbsp;Readers had to purchase multiple issues to read the entire&amp;nbsp;book.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In a world without copyright laws, authors would probably follow a similar protocol. &amp;nbsp;Then, after the last chapter has been published, other printers could copy&amp;nbsp;the author&amp;#39;s work and distribute it far and wide.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Authors have two main interests: to be paid for their &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing services&lt;/a&gt; work, and to have their work widely read and enjoyed so as to make a name for themselves. &amp;nbsp;Those two interests&amp;nbsp;sometimes run contrary to each other. &amp;nbsp;However, the system discribed above, works for everybody. &amp;nbsp;Authors can get paid by the newspapers. &amp;nbsp;The newspapers make&amp;nbsp;a profit by selling multiple, successive issues. &amp;nbsp;Printing companies can &amp;quot;free ride&amp;quot; by printing the book without paying royalties. &amp;nbsp;Authors are promoted by having their&amp;nbsp;works published by multiple firms. &amp;nbsp;Consumers get the best deal of all: they can read a few chapters in the newspaper, then purchase the entire book at a competitive&amp;nbsp;price.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="movies0"&gt;
	Movies&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Movie makers receive most of their revenues from motion-picture theatres, not DVD sales. &amp;nbsp;Motion-picture theatres, unlike DVDs, are at low risk of piracy. &amp;nbsp;Therefore,&amp;nbsp;movie piracy is not nearly as harmful to the movie industry as they would have you to believe.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="broadcasting0"&gt;
	Broadcasting&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Broadcasters are funded by advertising revenues, not by selling content. &amp;nbsp;Hence, broadcasting would continue as usual without IP laws.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="music0"&gt;
	Music&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Musicians could still get paid, even without copyright. &amp;nbsp;They would still be able to sell concert tickets, even if they did not make a thin dime from CDs and MP3&amp;nbsp;downloads. &amp;nbsp;In fact, file-sharing might actually make them more famous! &amp;nbsp;They could then cash in on their new-found fame in other ways (increased ticket sales, T-shirts&amp;nbsp;and promotional items, product endorsements, movie deals...)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Of course, people would still buy CDs, even with unrestricted file sharing networks in place. &amp;nbsp;If you hear a CD being played in a store, and you like it, what are you going to do:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend a few dollars, get a dozen good songs in your possession, or&lt;/li&gt;
	&lt;li&gt;
		Spend the next four hours on the Web trying to find those songs performed by some obscure local artists.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;div&gt;
	&lt;i&gt;The answer is obvious.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;h2 id="inventions"&gt;
	Inventions&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	When Thomas Edison (or, more accurately, Edison&amp;#39;s company) invented the light bulb, he was three steps ahead of anybody who would try to manufacture light bulbs of&amp;nbsp;their own. &amp;nbsp;He had the technical know-how, he had the necessary equipment to manufacture light bulbs, and his name was known in every household. &amp;nbsp;Because of these&amp;nbsp;three major advantages, he did not need a legal monopoly on light bulbs to get a return on his investment. &amp;nbsp;He must, however, remain three steps ahead of the&amp;nbsp;competition.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s invent a a parallel universe, however, where Edison invents the light bulb, and then does not bother in any way to improve it or reduce the cost of manufacturing it. &amp;nbsp;After several years, a rival inventor reverse-engineers the light bulb and build his own on his garage. &amp;nbsp;He then discovers a way to manufacture the light bulb for cheaper&amp;nbsp;than Edison&amp;#39;s. &amp;nbsp;He would quickly capture Edison&amp;#39;s market share. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of patents, Edison&amp;#39;s laziness is punished and his rival&amp;#39;s ingenuity is rewarded.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	This happened with the invention of the steam engine. James Watt made important improvements and secured a patent for them, but then blocked many further improvements, which could be applied only when his patent expired.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;quot;&lt;i&gt;During the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patents the United Kingdom added about 750 horsepower of steam engines per year. In the thirty years following Watt&amp;#39;s patents, additional horsepower was added at a rate of more than 4,000 per year. Moreover, the fuel efficiency of steam engines changed little during the period of Watt&amp;#39;s patent; while between 1810 and 1835 it is estimated to have increased by a factor of five.&lt;/i&gt;&amp;quot; (&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;*&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="software"&gt;
	Software&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even without copyright laws, programmers would continue to produce software. &amp;nbsp;They might engineer the software to work only with permission from the software firm,&amp;nbsp;requiring the consumer to pay for it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A second profitable business model is to allow consumers to use to the software for free, courtesy of advertisers. &amp;nbsp;Google follows this model.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	A third option, and probably most preferable from the consumer&amp;#39;s perspective, is the open-source freeware/shareware model, or software written by volunteers/hobbyists&amp;nbsp;and made freely available without difficult licensing restrictions. &amp;nbsp;Users may copy, edit, modify, sell, or pretty much do anything with the software. &amp;nbsp;(For-profit&amp;nbsp;entrepreneurs&amp;nbsp;are able to take a piece of shareware, add useful features, and sell copies with tech support.)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="brands_amp_trademarks"&gt;
	Brands &amp;amp; Trademarks&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Let&amp;#39;s take it a step further. &amp;nbsp;Why do we need to have registered trademarks? &amp;nbsp;The conventional answer is that it helps consumers recognize a familiar product and&amp;nbsp;distinguish it from other manufacturers&amp;#39; products. &amp;nbsp;Without corporations having legal monopolies on their respective trademarks, though, consumers would still be able to&amp;nbsp;distinguish one producer&amp;#39;s products from another&amp;#39;s.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Imagine that you are an entrepreneur who makes O-shaped cereal similar to General Mills&amp;#39; Cheerios. &amp;nbsp;Without legal trademarks, it would be perfectly legitimate to call&amp;nbsp;your product Cheerios.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Even though you would have the right to call your product Cheerios, grocery stores may refuse to carry your product. &amp;nbsp;They might object to the name and request you to&amp;nbsp;call it something else. &amp;nbsp;In the absence of intellectual property laws, general consensus would determine which words refer to a specific firm and which words refer to a&amp;nbsp;generic product.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;em&gt;NOTE: Most authors address registered trademarks independently of copyrights and patents. While a patent has the potential to stifle innovation, no such danger exists with trademarks. Many authors treat trademarks as a unique identifier to establish a level of trust with the consumer. It would be fraudulent to impersonate a company to try to trick customers into trusting them. Immitation is okay... impersonation is not. The cereal above would be fine if it was labeled &amp;quot;SomeCompany Toasty-O&amp;#39;s&amp;quot;, but would be lying to imply that they are indeed General Mills.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	There you have it. &amp;nbsp;Without patents and copyright, we would still have books, music, software, and world-changing inventions. &amp;nbsp;We could still watch movies, and authors&amp;nbsp;would still get paid for their work. &amp;nbsp;There would by less mind-numbing regulation, and more competition in the market. &amp;nbsp;Plus, you wouldn&amp;#39;t need to feel guilty for downloading audio files&amp;nbsp;from your next-door neighbor.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h2 id="further_reading"&gt;
	Further Reading&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf"&gt;http://www.micheleboldrin.com/research/aim/anew02.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="/story/3280"&gt;James Watt: Monopolist &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	&lt;a href="http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/"&gt;The Cathedral and the Bazaar&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; -an &lt;a href="http://custom-essay-writing-service.org/index.php"&gt;custom essay writing&lt;/a&gt; on open software&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>Jokes</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/jokes/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:58:51 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:201</guid><dc:creator>Nordbo</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by Nordbo on 11/17/2010 4:58:51 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	== Economic Jokes==&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	Isn&amp;#39;t it ironic that Chrysler owns the Italian car company Fiat, considering the bailout?&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>The Moral Imperative</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-moral-imperative/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:41:15 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:159</guid><dc:creator>dscotese</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by dscotese on 10/18/2010 11:41:15 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Moral Imperative&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Ethics&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	We often hear talking heads telling us that we have a &amp;quot;Moral Imperative&amp;quot; to expand the state.&amp;nbsp; These statements are never challenged by the press.&amp;nbsp; Such ideas are the intellectual foundation of the omnipotent state and must be attacked at every &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;opportunity&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.evolutionwriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;custom&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;help&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;opportunit&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration:underline;"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;y&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>The Moral Imperative</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-moral-imperative/revision/5.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:17:10 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6352</guid><dc:creator>Green911</dc:creator><description>Revision 5 posted to Austrian Economics by Green911 on 10/18/2010 4:17:10 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Moral Imperative&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Ethics&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	We often hear talking heads telling us that we have a &amp;quot;Moral Imperative&amp;quot; to expand the state.&amp;nbsp; These statements are never challenged by the press.&amp;nbsp; Such ideas are the intellectual foundation of the omnipotent state and must be attacked at every opportunity &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;in&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.evolutionwriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;custom&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;help&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>The Moral Imperative</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-moral-imperative/revision/4.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 29 Sep 2010 03:10:21 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6340</guid><dc:creator>dscotese</dc:creator><description>Revision 4 posted to Austrian Economics by dscotese on 9/28/2010 10:10:21 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Moral Imperative&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Ethics&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	We often hear talking heads telling us that we have a &amp;quot;Moral Imperative&amp;quot; to expand the state&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;through&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;.&amp;nbsp; These statements are never challenged by the press.&amp;nbsp; Such ideas &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;resume&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;writers&lt;/span&gt;are the intellectual foundation of the omnipotent state and must be attacked at every opportunity.&lt;a href="http://www.americanhomemoving.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;local&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;moving&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;company&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.supplementstoweightloss.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;weight&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;loss&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;diet&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>The Moral Imperative</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-moral-imperative/revision/3.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:09:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6194</guid><dc:creator>Frederic1</dc:creator><description>Revision 3 posted to Austrian Economics by Frederic1 on 9/27/2010 1:09:00 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Moral Imperative&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Ethics&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	We often hear talking heads telling us that we have a &amp;quot;Moral Imperative&amp;quot; to expand the state through &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;writing service&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; These statements are never challenged by the press.&amp;nbsp; Such ideas of &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;resume writers&lt;/a&gt; are the intellectual foundation of the omnipotent state and must be attacked at every opportunity. &lt;a href="http://www.americanhomemoving.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;local&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;moving&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;company&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.supplementstoweightloss.com/" rel="dofollow" style="text-decoration:none;cursor:text;"&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;weight&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;loss&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;diet&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;font color="black"&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>The Moral Imperative</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-moral-imperative/revision/2.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 27 May 2010 05:48:15 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:6173</guid><dc:creator>davismax</dc:creator><description>Revision 2 posted to Austrian Economics by davismax on 5/27/2010 12:48:15 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;The Moral Imperative&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Ethics&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;
	We often hear talking heads telling us that we have a &amp;quot;Moral Imperative&amp;quot; to expand the state &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;through&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://essaywritingservices.org/index.php"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writing&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; These statements are never challenged by the press.&amp;nbsp; Such ideas &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt; &lt;a href="http://cvresumewriters.com/"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;resume&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;writers&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt; are the intellectual foundation of the omnipotent state and must be attacked at every opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>The Moral Imperative</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-moral-imperative/revision/1.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:39:07 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:5234</guid><dc:creator>Ron Finch</dc:creator><description>Revision 1 posted to Austrian Economics by Ron Finch on 11/23/2009 11:39:07 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We often hear talking heads telling us that we have a &amp;quot;Moral Imperative&amp;quot; to expand the state.&amp;nbsp; These statements are never challenged by the press.&amp;nbsp; Such ideas are the intellectual foundation of the omnipotent state and must be attacked at every opportunity.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>A Libertarian Analysis of Harry Potter</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/a-libertarian-analysis-of-harry-potter/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:24:58 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:197</guid><dc:creator>noiselull</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by noiselull on 10/15/2010 4:24:58 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
	In this wiki I hope to try to write up a fairly detailed anaylis of the Harry Potter series from a libertarian perspective.&lt;/p&gt;
</description></item><item><title>the economic calculation argument</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-economic-calculation-argument/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:55:55 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:158</guid><dc:creator>fakename</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by fakename on 11/21/2009 6:55:55 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;the economic calculation argument&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Money&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;FAQ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;socialism&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The calculation argument is probably the most difficult to understand piece of Austrian theory in the whole corpus of austrianism. Indeed it is true that many Austrians themselves, at present and certainly in the past, have failed to understand it fully.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The purpose of this article then, is to process the argument into a more understandable summary and to show some of the causes that have contributed to its apprehensive difficulty. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Mises delivered the calculation argument in 1920 and sparked what is known as the socialist calculation debate. That debate lasted until the 1950s. One fact worth mentioning is that most opponents of Austrian economics consistently misstate the calculation argument. The calculation argument which they attack is in reality the Hayekian, not the Misesean, version.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hayek&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument had more to do with the allocation of information under a command economy, an emphasis which, as we shall see, was far and away from that of Mises.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;The Argument Itself&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;What Mises said was, if one is to build a railroad, under socialism, how would one go about doing it given that there are a thousand ways to organize the workers, mine the metals, harvest the coal, etc. Under free markets, such a problem is already solved; one just adds up the costs and profits of a project and its materials and one can begin or stop depending on the loss/gain ratio.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The inability to do this under socialism, Mises maintained, would be an insurmountable obstacle to socialism which would render it impossible in the strict sense.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises also is unconvinced by the possible methods of accounting under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He specifically disagreed with the idea of basing the value of products on labor since it is not true that all labor is of the same usefulness &amp;ndash;ditchdiggers would be paid hugely incomparison with government directors who would be paid little.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He also disagreed with the possibility of basing the allocation of goods in the socialist economy on technological efficiency. This was chiefly because he believed that not all values were reducible to, or necessarily connected with, technological efficiency &amp;ndash;that is &amp;ndash;technological efficiency was just one in a number of values that the acting man has to balance.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So for instance, for any given thing, it could be said that it could be made more technically efficient &amp;ndash;using less resources, less movements, less space to produce more output &amp;ndash;but it is not at all known whether an acting man would prefer more output or if he has the resources necessary to produce such an efficient machine.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Perhaps, too the socialist state could use money to establish prices but here again Mises would be unconvinced.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He responded that money is useless in uncovering the exchange ratio of goods under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The assignment of money prices to items would be totally arbitrary since the state, already controlling all supplies, could hardly be under the necessity or incentive to negotiate market prices for them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The famous opponent of the Misesean argument, and the winner of the calculation argument, was the socialist-leaning economist Oskar Lange who accepted that a socialist state could use money but that it could solve the impossibility of calculation by just acting like a firm does and through trial and error in setting prices, establish just what the right price of consumer goods would be.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This solution also assumes that the state is the owner of capital and the people are freely allowed to buy consumer goods.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is the market socialist solution.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But once more, mises continued in his objections. If the socialist state controlled capital &amp;ndash;like bridges, factories, etc. &amp;ndash;then the original problems of socialism are just rolled back one more level and still exist but in a more limited scope.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Secondly the trial and error method is gravely mistaken about the differences and roles of the entrepreneur and the bureaucrat.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The bureaucrat runs the department and makes sure that it is operating within budget and optimizing potential, given certain directives, but the entrepreneur doesn&amp;rsquo;t just operate within budget but is on the look out for new profit.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He realizes that nothing is merely given in reality (but needs action to be discovered) and he looks upon the &amp;ldquo;given directives&amp;rdquo; of the bureaucrat as an unreachable ideal for himself. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The langean plan envisions the role of markets as a bureaucratic machine which distributes goods at an equilibrium price whereas the correct theory of markets also sees the market as an entrepreneurial machine which makes goods that were hitherto unknown, and finds ways not just to optimize the given but to find new ends to reach for. This is the essential missing factor of the market socialist solution and one that it could not possibly overcome because entrepreneurs, who gain profits by exploiting the differences in value between means and ends (e.g. inventions), implicitly need a private market in capital which is precisely what lange, as we have noted, could not allow.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; But is it possible to, perhaps through punishments and rewards, motivate the directors of state bureaus to buy and sell as if they were on the market and so, to produce profit that way?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises would object that it is impossible because whoever is administering these punishments/rewards would become more important than what is more traditionally thought of as the customer.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;It would become more important for the leaders of socialist firms to perform to the standards of whoever is regulating them, than to the customers who are buying from them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And secondly, what is the point of acting like an entrepreneur and taking risks when you yourself are not buying or selling your own property? It makes no sense to believe that such a system would approximate the free market one &amp;ndash;where a person&amp;rsquo;s personal property is always at risk.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;This was what Mises belittled as &amp;ldquo;playing market&amp;rdquo;.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;But again, could a socialist society use the equations of mainstream economics to solve its allocation needs?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Here too, Mises would&amp;rsquo;ve said no. These equations are only descriptions of equilibrium conditions &amp;ndash;conditions where all materials are already allocated to their most important use and where no possible change towards or away from this position is thinkable &amp;ndash;as such they leave unanswered the question of what is the most efficient course to reach equilibrium nor can they describe the almost universal fact of life which markets are supposed to overcome namely disequilibrium.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So here we see Mises&amp;rsquo;s emphasis lays not in information allocation but in the subjective value of property. That is, his emphasis lay on ownership since it is the preamble and premise of any allocation including information allocation.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is what allowed him to concede that the socialist central planners could have perfect information of consumer wishes, yet inspite of this, they could still fail in planning the economy.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And that was the calculation argument in summary. But why did this Misesean argument fall out of favor with the academic community in favor of hayek&amp;rsquo;s and why is it that this theory is so hard to grasp, even for Austrians?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;An Inquiry Into the Reasons for the Rise of the Hayekian Version&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The Hayekian version of the argument was raised to such importance ultimately because of two things: the victory of Lange and the scholarship of Joseph Schumpeter.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The former, by presenting answers to Mises&amp;rsquo;s objections which were accepted by all orthodox economists, and the latter; by recording and transmitting Lange&amp;rsquo;s answers throughout the academic world, completely steamrolled and indeed, erased any memory of the Misesean argument. Also, Hayek&amp;rsquo;s vision of the scarcity and value of information implied the existence of an economics of information and an economics of evolution. These implications were drawn out, becoming two new fields of economic inquiry.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;His impact on academia, and the consequent perpetuation of his theory of the market as information allocator; within the bodies of two new scholarly areas, maintained the popularity of his version of the calculation argument. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Quite oppositely the reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was nothing but negative. Firstly, Hayek himself, before Lange, felt that Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was weak and was already answered by Pareto and Barone in the late 1800s.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The fact was, he thought, that equations could be used to calculate as the mainstreamers thought.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Later even his argument, that the central planners could never accumulate all the knowledge needed to calculate, was considered defeated by the Langean solution where the planner could just use trial and error to find the right price.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Of course Hayek would retort that such a solution already assumed that information was in one place (&amp;ldquo;implication is a logical relationship which can be meaningfully asserted only of propositions simultaneously present to one and the same mind&amp;rdquo;).&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After the largely unexpected fall of the soviet union though, the Misesean argument has been revived and become a subject of study once more. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Of the Difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Indeed one can also say that the difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument also doomed it and here one can analyze why his argument was especially difficult. For one, most economists including Hayek believed that Mises had left himself exposed to attack by the mathematical economists who argued thusly: &amp;ldquo;If a human can solve the equations which describe free markets, then central planners could solve the same equations, solving the problem of calculation under any central system.&amp;rdquo; What these economists did not understand was that their equations were not to be taken literally as a guide precisely because these equations simplified economic reality too much such that any knowledge that could be gained from them, was only analogous and not unequivocal, information. For instance, the equations for equilibrium, if taken literally, describe a person or group of people who simply use given resources to maximize their satisfaction.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But since resources must be discovered, and since satisfaction can never last, the model erases and absorbs the uniquely Austrian theory of the entrepreneur who searches for resources and discovers new preferences &amp;ndash;as we have seen, a very important point of the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Another source of misunderstanding is the fact that once someone reads the calculation argument for the first time, they are led into thinking, since the argument hinges on the correct use of money, that the only problem with socialism is a lack of money or bookkeepers or accountants. But Mises is not emphasizing the role of these latter (though they are important) but is rather emphasizing the correct use of their services. To try and solve economic problems of scarcity and choice, the planner, without profit and loss, has to go and solve it by some objective means -whether philosophical, political, or scientific but never based on the subjectivity of buying/selling. But to try to do this is the same as trying to answer the question, &amp;ldquo;is the cup half-full or half-empty&amp;rdquo; without any recourse to thirst. When water has no physical meaning, one will simply adjust the levels arbitrarily, when property has no economic meaning, one will simply adjust its relations arbitrarily. So the lack of profits and losses in socialism is in fact the crux of the issue.&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The final reason why the calculation argument is hard to grasp is that people hold a wrong view of capital.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;To most people capital is the money value of machinery and tools or money itself. Also, since it is expressed as a number, capital is an essentially uniform substance. But for Austrians, capital is a very diverse thing and is best seen under the aspect of its real (e.g. as tools, machines, etc.), not nominal (e.g. money), manifestation. The diversity of capital is illustrated in the fact that capital is simply machines, tools, etc. But it is in this that another implication that is momentous for the calculation argument can be seen &amp;ndash;namely that capital is unspecific or can be used to make many different things.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This fact, that there are many ways to skin a cat, makes it impossible for the planner of an economy to know, without money and private ownership of capital; what the most efficient use a capital good is.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So the complexity of capital items is another indispensable piece to the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;In summary, having explored the argument, and the reasons for its unpopularity, and the reasons for its difficulty; even among Austrians, I now come to the answers for my original topic&amp;nbsp;and to&amp;nbsp;the&amp;nbsp;end of this article.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;sources: economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth, economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth: Postscript, The Socialist Calculation Debate Revisited, Wikipedia: Joseph Schumpeter, Wikipedia: FA Hayek, Wikipedia: Information Economics, Wikipedia: Evolutionary Economics&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>the economic calculation argument</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-economic-calculation-argument/revision/3.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:53:26 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:3611</guid><dc:creator>fakename</dc:creator><description>Revision 3 posted to Austrian Economics by fakename on 11/21/2009 6:53:26 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;the economic calculation argument&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: Money, FAQ, Mises, socialism, hayek&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The calculation argument is probably the most difficult to understand piece of Austrian theory in the whole corpus of austrianism. Indeed it is true that many Austrians themselves, at present and certainly in the past, have failed to understand it fully.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The purpose of this article then, is to process the argument into a more understandable summary and to show some of the causes that have contributed to its apprehensive difficulty.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises delivered the calculation argument in 1920 and sparked what is known as the socialist calculation debate. That debate lasted until the 1950s. One fact worth mentioning is that most opponents of Austrian economics consistently misstate the calculation argument. The calculation argument which they attack is in reality the Hayekian, not the Misesean, version.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hayek&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument had more to do with the allocation of information under a command economy, an emphasis which, as we shall see, was far and away from that of Mises.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;The Argument Itself&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;What Mises said was, if one is to build a railroad, under socialism, how would one go about doing it given that there are a thousand ways to organize the workers, mine the metals, harvest the coal, etc. Under free markets, such a problem is already solved; one just adds up the costs and profits of a project and its materials and one can begin or stop depending on the loss/gain ratio.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The inability to do this under socialism, Mises maintained, would be an insurmountable obstacle to socialism which would render it impossible in the strict sense.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises also is unconvinced by the possible methods of accounting under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He specifically disagreed with the idea of basing the value of products on labor since it is not true that all labor is of the same usefulness &amp;ndash;ditchdiggers would be paid hugely incomparison with government directors who would be paid little.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He also disagreed with the possibility of basing the allocation of goods in the socialist economy on technological efficiency. This was chiefly because he believed that not all values were reducible to, or necessarily connected with, technological efficiency &amp;ndash;that is &amp;ndash;technological efficiency was just one in a number of values that the acting man has to balance.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So for instance, for any given thing, it could be said that it could be made more technically efficient &amp;ndash;using less resources, less movements, less space to produce more output &amp;ndash;but it is not at all known whether an acting man would prefer more output or if he has the resources necessary to produce such an efficient machine.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Perhaps, too the socialist state could use money to establish prices but here again Mises would be unconvinced.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He responded that money is useless in uncovering the exchange ratio of goods under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The assignment of money prices to items would be totally arbitrary since the state, already controlling all supplies, could hardly be under the necessity or incentive to negotiate market prices for them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The famous opponent of the Misesean argument, and the winner of the calculation argument, was the socialist-leaning economist Oskar Lange who accepted that a socialist state could use money but that it could solve the impossibility of calculation by just acting like a firm does and through trial and error in setting prices, establish just what the right price of consumer goods would be.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This solution also assumes that the state is the owner of capital and the people are freely allowed to buy consumer goods.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is the market socialist solution.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But once more, mises continued in his objections. If the socialist state controlled capital &amp;ndash;like bridges, factories, etc. &amp;ndash;then the original problems of socialism are just rolled back one more level and still exist but in a more limited scope.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Secondly the trial and error method is gravely mistaken about the differences and roles of the entrepreneur and the bureaucrat.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The bureaucrat runs the department and makes sure that it is operating within budget and optimizing potential, given certain directives, but the entrepreneur doesn&amp;rsquo;t just operate within budget but is on the look out for new profit.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He realizes that nothing is merely given in reality (but needs action to be discovered) and he looks upon the &amp;ldquo;given directives&amp;rdquo; of the bureaucrat as an unreachable ideal for himself. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The langean plan envisions the role of markets as a bureaucratic machine which distributes goods at an equilibrium price whereas the correct theory of markets also sees the market as an entrepreneurial machine which makes goods that were hitherto unknown, and finds ways not just to optimize the given but to find new ends to reach for. This is the essential missing factor of the market socialist solution and one that it could not possibly overcome because entrepreneurs, who gain profits by exploiting the differences in value between means and ends (e.g. inventions), implicitly need a private market in capital which is precisely what lange, as we have noted, could not allow.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But is it possible to, perhaps through punishments and rewards, motivate the directors of state bureaus to buy and sell as if they were on the market and so, to produce profit that way?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises would object that it is impossible because whoever is administering these punishments/rewards would become more important than what is more traditionally thought of as the customer.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;It would become more important for the leaders of socialist firms to perform to the standards of whoever is regulating them, than to the customers who are buying from them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And secondly, what is the point of acting like an entrepreneur and taking risks when you yourself are not buying or selling your own property? It makes no sense to believe that such a system would approximate the free market one &amp;ndash;where a person&amp;rsquo;s personal property is always at risk.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;This was what Mises belittled as &amp;ldquo;playing market&amp;rdquo;.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But again, could a socialist society use the equations of mainstream economics to solve its allocation needs?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Here too, Mises would&amp;rsquo;ve said no. These equations are only descriptions of equilibrium conditions &amp;ndash;conditions where all materials are already allocated to their most important use and where no possible change towards or away from this position is thinkable &amp;ndash;as such they leave unanswered the question of what is the most efficient course to reach equilibrium nor can they describe the almost universal fact of life which markets are supposed to overcome namely disequilibrium.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So here we see Mises&amp;rsquo;s emphasis lays not in information allocation but in the subjective value of property. That is, his emphasis lay on ownership since it is the preamble and premise of any allocation including information allocation.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is what allowed him to concede that the socialist central planners could have perfect information of consumer wishes, yet inspite of this, they could still fail in planning the economy.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And that was the calculation argument in summary. But why did this Misesean argument fall out of favor with the academic community in favor of hayek&amp;rsquo;s and why is it that this theory is so hard to grasp, even for Austrians?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;An Inquiry Into the Reasons for the Rise of the Hayekian Version&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The Hayekian version of the argument was raised to such importance ultimately because of two things: the victory of Lange and the scholarship of Joseph Schumpeter.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The former, by presenting answers to Mises&amp;rsquo;s objections which were accepted by all orthodox economists, and the latter; by recording and transmitting Lange&amp;rsquo;s answers throughout the academic world, completely steamrolled and indeed, erased any memory of the Misesean argument. Also, Hayek&amp;rsquo;s vision of the scarcity and value of information implied the existence of an economics of information and an economics of evolution. These implications were drawn out, becoming two new fields of economic inquiry.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;His impact on academia, and the consequent perpetuation of his theory of the market as information allocator; within the bodies of two new scholarly areas, maintained the popularity of his version of the calculation argument. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Quite oppositely the reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was nothing but negative. Firstly, Hayek himself, before Lange, felt that Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was weak and was already answered by Pareto and Barone in the late 1800s.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The fact was, he thought, that equations could be used to calculate as the mainstreamers thought.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Later even his argument, that the central planners could never accumulate all the knowledge needed to calculate, was considered defeated by the Langean solution where the planner could just use trial and error to find the right price.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Of course Hayek would retort that such a solution already assumed that information was in one place (&amp;ldquo;implication is a logical relationship which can be meaningfully asserted only of propositions simultaneously present to one and the same mind&amp;rdquo;).&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After the largely unexpected fall of the soviet union though, the Misesean argument has been revived and become a subject of study once more. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Of the Difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Indeed one can also say that the difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument also doomed it and here one can analyze why his argument was especially difficult. For one, most economists including Hayek believed that Mises had left himself exposed to attack by the mathematical economists who argued thusly: &amp;ldquo;If a human can solve the equations which describe free markets, then central planners could solve the same equations, solving the problem of calculation under any central system.&amp;rdquo; What these economists did not understand was that their equations were not to be taken literally as a guide precisely because these equations simplified economic reality too much such that any knowledge that could be gained from them, was only analogous and not unequivocal, information. For instance, the equations for equilibrium, if taken literally, describe a person or group of people who simply use given resources to maximize their satisfaction.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But since resources must be discovered, and since satisfaction can never last, the model erases and absorbs the uniquely Austrian theory of the entrepreneur who searches for resources and discovers new preferences &amp;ndash;as we have seen, a very important point of the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Another source of misunderstanding is the fact that once someone reads the calculation argument for the first time, they are led into thinking, since the argument hinges on the correct use of money, that the only problem with socialism is a lack of money or bookkeepers or accountants. But Mises is not emphasizing the role of these latter (though they are important) but is rather emphasizing the correct use of their services. To try and solve economic problems of scarcity and choice, the planner, without profit and loss, has to go and solve it by some objective means -whether philosophical, political, or scientific but never based on the subjectivity of buying/selling. But to try to do this is the same as trying to answer the question, &amp;ldquo;is the cup half-full or half-empty&amp;rdquo; without any recourse to thirst. When water has no physical meaning, one will simply adjust the levels arbitrarily, when property has no economic meaning, one will simply adjust its relations arbitrarily. So the lack of profits and losses in socialism is in fact the crux of the issue.&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The final reason why the calculation argument is hard to grasp is that people hold a wrong view of capital.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;To most people capital is the money value of machinery and tools or money itself. Also, since it is expressed as a number, capital is an essentially uniform substance. But for Austrians, capital is a very diverse thing and is best seen under the aspect of its real (e.g. as tools, machines, etc.), not nominal (e.g. money), manifestation. The diversity of capital is illustrated in the fact that capital is simply machines, tools, etc. But it is in this that another implication that is momentous for the calculation argument can be seen &amp;ndash;namely that capital is unspecific or can be used to make many different things.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This fact, that there are many ways to skin a cat, makes it impossible for the planner of an economy to know, without money and private ownership of capital; what the most efficient use a capital good is.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So the complexity of capital items is another indispensable piece to the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;In summary, having explored the argument, and the reasons for its unpopularity, and the reasons for its difficulty; even among Austrians, I now come to the answers for my original topic&amp;nbsp;and to&amp;nbsp;the&amp;nbsp;end of this article.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;sources: economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth, economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth: Postscript, The Socialist Calculation Debate Revisited, Wikipedia: Joseph Schumpeter, Wikipedia: FA Hayek, Wikipedia: Information Economics, Wikipedia: Evolutionary Economics&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>the economic calculation argument</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-economic-calculation-argument/revision/2.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:49:46 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:3610</guid><dc:creator>fakename</dc:creator><description>Revision 2 posted to Austrian Economics by fakename on 11/21/2009 6:49:46 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;the economic calculation argument&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Money&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;FAQ&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Mises&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;socialism&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;,&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;hayek&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The calculation argument is probably the most difficult to understand piece of Austrian theory in the whole corpus of austrianism. Indeed it is true that many Austrians themselves, at present and certainly in the past, have failed to understand it fully.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The purpose of this article then, is to process the argument into a more understandable summary and to show some of the causes that have contributed to its apprehensive difficulty.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises delivered the calculation argument in 1920 and sparked what is known as the socialist calculation debate. That debate lasted until the 1950s. One fact worth mentioning is that most opponents of Austrian economics consistently misstate the calculation argument. The calculation argument which they attack is in reality the Hayekian, not the Misesean, version.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hayek&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument had more to do with the allocation of information under a command economy, an emphasis which, as we shall see, was far and away from that of Mises.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;The Argument Itself&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;What Mises said was, if one is to build a railroad, under socialism, how would one go about doing it given that there are a thousand ways to organize the workers, mine the metals, harvest the coal, etc. Under free markets, such a problem is already solved; one just adds up the costs and profits of a project and its materials and one can begin or stop depending on the loss/gain ratio.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The inability to do this under socialism, Mises maintained, would be an insurmountable obstacle to socialism which would render it impossible in the strict sense.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises also is unconvinced by the possible methods of accounting under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He specifically disagreed with the idea of basing the value of products on labor since it is not true that all labor is of the same usefulness &amp;ndash;ditchdiggers would be paid hugely incomparison with government directors who would be paid little.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He also disagreed with the possibility of basing the allocation of goods in the socialist economy on technological efficiency. This was chiefly because he believed that not all values were reducible to, or necessarily connected with, technological efficiency &amp;ndash;that is &amp;ndash;technological efficiency was just one in a number of values that the acting man has to balance.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So for instance, for any given thing, it could be said that it could be made more technically efficient &amp;ndash;using less resources, less movements, less space to produce more output &amp;ndash;but it is not at all known whether an acting man would prefer more output or if he has the resources necessary to produce such an efficient machine.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Perhaps, too the socialist state could use money to establish prices but here again Mises would be unconvinced.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He responded that money is useless in uncovering the exchange ratio of goods under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The assignment of money prices to items would be totally arbitrary since the state, already controlling all supplies, could hardly be under the necessity or incentive to negotiate market prices for them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The famous opponent of the Misesean argument, and the winner of the calculation argument, was the socialist-leaning economist Oskar Lange who accepted that a socialist state could use money but that it could solve the impossibility of calculation by just acting like a firm does and through trial and error in setting prices, establish just what the right price of consumer goods would be.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This solution also assumes that the state is the owner of capital and the people are freely allowed to buy consumer goods.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is the market socialist solution.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But once more, mises continued in his objections. If the socialist state controlled capital &amp;ndash;like bridges, factories, etc. &amp;ndash;then the original problems of socialism are just rolled back one more level and still exist but in a more limited scope.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Secondly the trial and error method is gravely mistaken about the differences and roles of the entrepreneur and the bureaucrat.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The bureaucrat runs the department and makes sure that it is operating within budget and optimizing potential, given certain directives, but the entrepreneur doesn&amp;rsquo;t just operate within budget but is on the look out for new profit.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He realizes that nothing is merely given in reality (but needs action to be discovered) and he looks upon the &amp;ldquo;given directives&amp;rdquo; of the bureaucrat as an unreachable ideal for himself. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The langean plan envisions the role of markets as a bureaucratic machine which distributes goods at an equilibrium price whereas the correct theory of markets also sees the market as an entrepreneurial machine which makes goods that were hitherto unknown, and finds ways not just to optimize the given but to find new ends to reach for. This is the essential missing factor of the market socialist solution and one that it could not possibly overcome because entrepreneurs, who gain profits by exploiting the differences in value between means and ends (e.g. inventions), implicitly need a private market in capital which is precisely what lange, as we have noted, could not allow.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But is it possible to, perhaps through punishments and rewards, motivate the directors of state bureaus to buy and sell as if they were on the market and so, to produce profit that way?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises would object that it is impossible because whoever is administering these punishments/rewards would become more important than what is more traditionally thought of as the customer.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;It would become more important for the leaders of socialist firms to perform to the standards of whoever is regulating them, than to the customers who are buying from them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And secondly, what is the point of acting like an entrepreneur and taking risks when you yourself are not buying or selling your own property? It makes no sense to believe that such a system would approximate the free market one &amp;ndash;where a person&amp;rsquo;s personal property is always at risk.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;This was what Mises belittled as &amp;ldquo;playing market&amp;rdquo;.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But again, could a socialist society use the equations of mainstream economics to solve its allocation needs?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Here too, Mises would&amp;rsquo;ve said no. These equations are only descriptions of equilibrium conditions &amp;ndash;conditions where all materials are already allocated to their most important use and where no possible change towards or away from this position is thinkable &amp;ndash;as such they leave unanswered the question of what is the most efficient course to reach equilibrium nor can they describe the almost universal fact of life which markets are supposed to overcome namely disequilibrium.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So here we see Mises&amp;rsquo;s emphasis lays not in information allocation but in the subjective value of property. That is, his emphasis lay on ownership since it is the preamble and premise of any allocation including information allocation.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is what allowed him to concede that the socialist central planners could have perfect information of consumer wishes, yet inspite of this, they could still fail in planning the economy.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And that was the calculation argument in summary. But why did this Misesean argument fall out of favor with the academic community in favor of hayek&amp;rsquo;s and why is it that this theory is so hard to grasp, even for Austrians?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;An Inquiry Into the Reasons for the Rise of the Hayekian Version&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The Hayekian version of the argument was raised to such importance ultimately because of two things: the victory of Lange and the scholarship of Joseph Schumpeter.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The former, by presenting answers to Mises&amp;rsquo;s objections which were accepted by all orthodox economists, and the latter; by recording and transmitting Lange&amp;rsquo;s answers throughout the academic world, completely steamrolled and indeed, erased any memory of the Misesean argument. Also, Hayek&amp;rsquo;s vision of the scarcity and value of information implied the existence of an economics of information and an economics of evolution. These implications were drawn out, becoming two new fields of economic inquiry.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;His impact on academia, and the consequent perpetuation of his theory of the market as information allocator; within the bodies of two new scholarly areas, maintained the popularity of his version of the calculation argument. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Quite oppositely the reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was nothing but negative. Firstly, Hayek himself, before Lange, felt that Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was weak and was already answered by Pareto and Barone in the late 1800s.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The fact was, he thought, that equations could be used to calculate as the mainstreamers thought.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Later even his argument, that the central planners could never accumulate all the knowledge needed to calculate, was considered defeated by the Langean solution where the planner could just use trial and error to find the right price.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Of course Hayek would retort that such a solution already assumed that information was in one place (&amp;ldquo;implication is a logical relationship which can be meaningfully asserted only of propositions simultaneously present to one and the same mind&amp;rdquo;).&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After the largely unexpected fall of the soviet union though, the Misesean argument has been revived and become a subject of study once more. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Of the Difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Indeed one can also say that the difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument also doomed it and here one can analyze why his argument was especially difficult. For one, most economists including Hayek believed that Mises had left himself exposed to attack by the mathematical economists who argued thusly: &amp;ldquo;If a human can solve the equations which describe free markets, then central planners could solve the same equations, solving the problem of calculation under any central system.&amp;rdquo; What these economists did not understand was that their equations were not to be taken literally as a guide precisely because these equations simplified economic reality too much such that any knowledge that could be gained from them, was only analogous and not unequivocal, information. For instance, the equations for equilibrium, if taken literally, describe a person or group of people who simply use given resources to maximize their satisfaction.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But since resources must be discovered, and since satisfaction can never last, the model erases and absorbs the uniquely Austrian theory of the entrepreneur who searches for resources and discovers new preferences &amp;ndash;as we have seen, a very important point of the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Another source of misunderstanding is the fact that once someone reads the calculation argument for the first time, they are led into thinking, since the argument hinges on the correct use of money, that the only problem with socialism is a lack of money or bookkeepers or accountants. But Mises is not emphasizing the role of these latter (though they are important) but is rather emphasizing the correct use of their services. To try and solve economic problems of scarcity and choice, the planner, without profit and loss, has to go and solve it by some objective means -whether philosophical, political, or scientific but never based on the subjectivity of buying/selling. But to try to do this is the same as trying to answer the question, &amp;ldquo;is the cup half-full or half-empty&amp;rdquo; without any recourse to thirst. When water has no physical meaning, one will simply adjust the levels arbitrarily, when property has no economic meaning, one will simply adjust its relations arbitrarily. So the lack of profits and losses in socialism is in fact the crux of the issue.&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The final reason why the calculation argument is hard to grasp is that people hold a wrong view of capital.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;To most people capital is the money value of machinery and tools or money itself. Also, since it is expressed as a number, capital is an essentially uniform substance. But for Austrians, capital is a very diverse thing and is best seen under the aspect of its real (e.g. as tools, machines, etc.), not nominal (e.g. money), manifestation. The diversity of capital is illustrated in the fact that capital is simply machines, tools, etc. But it is in this that another implication that is momentous for the calculation argument can be seen &amp;ndash;namely that capital is unspecific or can be used to make many different things.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This fact, that there are many ways to skin a cat, makes it impossible for the planner of an economy to know, without money and private ownership of capital; what the most efficient use a capital good is.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So the complexity of capital items is another indispensable piece to the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;In summary, having explored the argument, and the reasons for its unpopularity, and the reasons for its difficulty; even among Austrians, I now come to the answers for my original topic&amp;nbsp;and to&amp;nbsp;the&amp;nbsp;end of this article.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;sources: economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth, economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth: Postscript, The Socialist Calculation Debate Revisited, Wikipedia: Joseph Schumpeter, Wikipedia: FA Hayek, Wikipedia: Information Economics, Wikipedia: Evolutionary Economics&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>the economic calculation argument</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-economic-calculation-argument/revision/1.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:49:46 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:3609</guid><dc:creator>fakename</dc:creator><description>Revision 1 posted to Austrian Economics by fakename on 11/21/2009 6:49:46 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The calculation argument is probably the most difficult to understand piece of Austrian theory in the whole corpus of austrianism. Indeed it is true that many Austrians themselves, at present and certainly in the past, have failed to understand it fully.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The purpose of this article then, is to process the argument into a more understandable summary and to show some of the causes that have contributed to its apprehensive difficulty.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises delivered the calculation argument in 1920 and sparked what is known as the socialist calculation debate. That debate lasted until the 1950s. One fact worth mentioning is that most opponents of Austrian economics consistently misstate the calculation argument. The calculation argument which they attack is in reality the Hayekian, not the Misesean, version.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Hayek&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument had more to do with the allocation of information under a command economy, an emphasis which, as we shall see, was far and away from that of Mises.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;The Argument Itself&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;What Mises said was, if one is to build a railroad, under socialism, how would one go about doing it given that there are a thousand ways to organize the workers, mine the metals, harvest the coal, etc. Under free markets, such a problem is already solved; one just adds up the costs and profits of a project and its materials and one can begin or stop depending on the loss/gain ratio.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The inability to do this under socialism, Mises maintained, would be an insurmountable obstacle to socialism which would render it impossible in the strict sense.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises also is unconvinced by the possible methods of accounting under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He specifically disagreed with the idea of basing the value of products on labor since it is not true that all labor is of the same usefulness &amp;ndash;ditchdiggers would be paid hugely incomparison with government directors who would be paid little.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He also disagreed with the possibility of basing the allocation of goods in the socialist economy on technological efficiency. This was chiefly because he believed that not all values were reducible to, or necessarily connected with, technological efficiency &amp;ndash;that is &amp;ndash;technological efficiency was just one in a number of values that the acting man has to balance.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So for instance, for any given thing, it could be said that it could be made more technically efficient &amp;ndash;using less resources, less movements, less space to produce more output &amp;ndash;but it is not at all known whether an acting man would prefer more output or if he has the resources necessary to produce such an efficient machine.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Perhaps, too the socialist state could use money to establish prices but here again Mises would be unconvinced.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He responded that money is useless in uncovering the exchange ratio of goods under socialism.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The assignment of money prices to items would be totally arbitrary since the state, already controlling all supplies, could hardly be under the necessity or incentive to negotiate market prices for them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The famous opponent of the Misesean argument, and the winner of the calculation argument, was the socialist-leaning economist Oskar Lange who accepted that a socialist state could use money but that it could solve the impossibility of calculation by just acting like a firm does and through trial and error in setting prices, establish just what the right price of consumer goods would be.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This solution also assumes that the state is the owner of capital and the people are freely allowed to buy consumer goods.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is the market socialist solution.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But once more, mises continued in his objections. If the socialist state controlled capital &amp;ndash;like bridges, factories, etc. &amp;ndash;then the original problems of socialism are just rolled back one more level and still exist but in a more limited scope.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Secondly the trial and error method is gravely mistaken about the differences and roles of the entrepreneur and the bureaucrat.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The bureaucrat runs the department and makes sure that it is operating within budget and optimizing potential, given certain directives, but the entrepreneur doesn&amp;rsquo;t just operate within budget but is on the look out for new profit.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;He realizes that nothing is merely given in reality (but needs action to be discovered) and he looks upon the &amp;ldquo;given directives&amp;rdquo; of the bureaucrat as an unreachable ideal for himself. &lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The langean plan envisions the role of markets as a bureaucratic machine which distributes goods at an equilibrium price whereas the correct theory of markets also sees the market as an entrepreneurial machine which makes goods that were hitherto unknown, and finds ways not just to optimize the given but to find new ends to reach for. This is the essential missing factor of the market socialist solution and one that it could not possibly overcome because entrepreneurs, who gain profits by exploiting the differences in value between means and ends (e.g. inventions), implicitly need a private market in capital which is precisely what lange, as we have noted, could not allow.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But is it possible to, perhaps through punishments and rewards, motivate the directors of state bureaus to buy and sell as if they were on the market and so, to produce profit that way?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Mises would object that it is impossible because whoever is administering these punishments/rewards would become more important than what is more traditionally thought of as the customer.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;It would become more important for the leaders of socialist firms to perform to the standards of whoever is regulating them, than to the customers who are buying from them.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And secondly, what is the point of acting like an entrepreneur and taking risks when you yourself are not buying or selling your own property? It makes no sense to believe that such a system would approximate the free market one &amp;ndash;where a person&amp;rsquo;s personal property is always at risk.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;This was what Mises belittled as &amp;ldquo;playing market&amp;rdquo;.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But again, could a socialist society use the equations of mainstream economics to solve its allocation needs?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Here too, Mises would&amp;rsquo;ve said no. These equations are only descriptions of equilibrium conditions &amp;ndash;conditions where all materials are already allocated to their most important use and where no possible change towards or away from this position is thinkable &amp;ndash;as such they leave unanswered the question of what is the most efficient course to reach equilibrium nor can they describe the almost universal fact of life which markets are supposed to overcome namely disequilibrium.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So here we see Mises&amp;rsquo;s emphasis lays not in information allocation but in the subjective value of property. That is, his emphasis lay on ownership since it is the preamble and premise of any allocation including information allocation.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This is what allowed him to concede that the socialist central planners could have perfect information of consumer wishes, yet inspite of this, they could still fail in planning the economy.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;And that was the calculation argument in summary. But why did this Misesean argument fall out of favor with the academic community in favor of hayek&amp;rsquo;s and why is it that this theory is so hard to grasp, even for Austrians?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;An Inquiry Into the Reasons for the Rise of the Hayekian Version&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;The Hayekian version of the argument was raised to such importance ultimately because of two things: the victory of Lange and the scholarship of Joseph Schumpeter.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The former, by presenting answers to Mises&amp;rsquo;s objections which were accepted by all orthodox economists, and the latter; by recording and transmitting Lange&amp;rsquo;s answers throughout the academic world, completely steamrolled and indeed, erased any memory of the Misesean argument. Also, Hayek&amp;rsquo;s vision of the scarcity and value of information implied the existence of an economics of information and an economics of evolution. These implications were drawn out, becoming two new fields of economic inquiry.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;His impact on academia, and the consequent perpetuation of his theory of the market as information allocator; within the bodies of two new scholarly areas, maintained the popularity of his version of the calculation argument. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Quite oppositely the reception of Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was nothing but negative. Firstly, Hayek himself, before Lange, felt that Mises&amp;rsquo;s argument was weak and was already answered by Pareto and Barone in the late 1800s.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The fact was, he thought, that equations could be used to calculate as the mainstreamers thought.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Later even his argument, that the central planners could never accumulate all the knowledge needed to calculate, was considered defeated by the Langean solution where the planner could just use trial and error to find the right price.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Of course Hayek would retort that such a solution already assumed that information was in one place (&amp;ldquo;implication is a logical relationship which can be meaningfully asserted only of propositions simultaneously present to one and the same mind&amp;rdquo;).&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;After the largely unexpected fall of the soviet union though, the Misesean argument has been revived and become a subject of study once more. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;Of the Difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s Argument&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;Indeed one can also say that the difficulty of Mises&amp;rsquo;s calculation argument also doomed it and here one can analyze why his argument was especially difficult. For one, most economists including Hayek believed that Mises had left himself exposed to attack by the mathematical economists who argued thusly: &amp;ldquo;If a human can solve the equations which describe free markets, then central planners could solve the same equations, solving the problem of calculation under any central system.&amp;rdquo; What these economists did not understand was that their equations were not to be taken literally as a guide precisely because these equations simplified economic reality too much such that any knowledge that could be gained from them, was only analogous and not unequivocal, information. For instance, the equations for equilibrium, if taken literally, describe a person or group of people who simply use given resources to maximize their satisfaction.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;But since resources must be discovered, and since satisfaction can never last, the model erases and absorbs the uniquely Austrian theory of the entrepreneur who searches for resources and discovers new preferences &amp;ndash;as we have seen, a very important point of the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;Another source of misunderstanding is the fact that once someone reads the calculation argument for the first time, they are led into thinking, since the argument hinges on the correct use of money, that the only problem with socialism is a lack of money or bookkeepers or accountants. But Mises is not emphasizing the role of these latter (though they are important) but is rather emphasizing the correct use of their services. To try and solve economic problems of scarcity and choice, the planner, without profit and loss, has to go and solve it by some objective means -whether philosophical, political, or scientific but never based on the subjectivity of buying/selling. But to try to do this is the same as trying to answer the question, &amp;ldquo;is the cup half-full or half-empty&amp;rdquo; without any recourse to thirst. When water has no physical meaning, one will simply adjust the levels arbitrarily, when property has no economic meaning, one will simply adjust its relations arbitrarily. So the lack of profits and losses in socialism is in fact the crux of the issue.&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The final reason why the calculation argument is hard to grasp is that people hold a wrong view of capital.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;To most people capital is the money value of machinery and tools or money itself. Also, since it is expressed as a number, capital is an essentially uniform substance. But for Austrians, capital is a very diverse thing and is best seen under the aspect of its real (e.g. as tools, machines, etc.), not nominal (e.g. money), manifestation. The diversity of capital is illustrated in the fact that capital is simply machines, tools, etc. But it is in this that another implication that is momentous for the calculation argument can be seen &amp;ndash;namely that capital is unspecific or can be used to make many different things.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;This fact, that there are many ways to skin a cat, makes it impossible for the planner of an economy to know, without money and private ownership of capital; what the most efficient use a capital good is.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;So the complexity of capital items is another indispensable piece to the calculation argument.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;In summary, having explored the argument, and the reasons for its unpopularity, and the reasons for its difficulty; even among Austrians, I now come to the answers for my original topic&amp;nbsp;and to&amp;nbsp;the&amp;nbsp;end of this article.&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;sources: economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth, economic calculation in a socialist commonwealth: Postscript, The Socialist Calculation Debate Revisited, Wikipedia: Joseph Schumpeter, Wikipedia: FA Hayek, Wikipedia: Information Economics, Wikipedia: Evolutionary Economics&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:large;font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:57:29 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:143</guid><dc:creator>larry </dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by larry  on 7/9/2009 12:57:29 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;United&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;States&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;principles&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;fundamentals&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;falling&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;empire&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;Obama&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;administration&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;economy&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;economic&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;rights&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;liberty&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;freedom&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;libertarian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;austrian&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;property&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;checks&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;balances&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;contract&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;rule&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;law&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;laissez&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;faire&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;h3 id="the_united_states_of_america_is_essentially_an_empire_we_have_troops_stationed_around_the_world_and_we_tell_other_nations_what_to_do_we_have_political_power_over_many_even_by_means_of_force_the_middle_east_is_not_happy_about_our_crusade_for_democracy_i_assure_you_lately_the_president_does_what_he_wants_regardless_of_the_laws_of_the_land_or_the_constitution_he_holds_power_far_more_supreme_than_that_intended_by_the_country39s_fathers_who_created_our_government_we_attack_without_the_consent_of_the_governed_represented_by_the_congress_and_we_allow_freedom_of_speech_but_act_upon_what_people_say_about_sensitive_topics_to_big_brother_our_empire_of_the_fifty_states_and_its_protectorates_are_going_down_the_romans_did_the_same" &gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The United States of America is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even&amp;nbsp;by means of&amp;nbsp;force; the Middle East is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;or&lt;/span&gt; the Constitution.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; He holds power far more supreme than &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;that&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; intended by the country&amp;#39;s fathers who &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;drafted&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;created&lt;/span&gt; our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow freedom of speech but act upon what&amp;nbsp;people say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="padding-left:90px;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;THE&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;ROMANS&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;DID&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;THE&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;SAME&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p style="padding-left:30px;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;#39;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="padding-left:150px;"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;CHECKS&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;AND&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;BALANCES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; What are the principles of the United States? We have our &amp;quot;checks and balances&amp;quot; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;quot;Checks and balances&amp;quot; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;are&lt;/span&gt; their property rights?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;#39;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in America&amp;#39;s Guantanamo Bay as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt; Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&amp;quot;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&lt;/b&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/9.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:52:15 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:2162</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 9 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 12:52:15 PM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The United States of America is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;when&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;it&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;s&lt;/span&gt; &amp;nbsp;by &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;means&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;of&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;force; the Middle East is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;#39;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;the&lt;/span&gt; freedom of speech but act upon what&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;they&lt;/span&gt; &amp;nbsp;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;people&lt;/span&gt; say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;#39;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; What are the principles of the United States? We have our &amp;quot;checks and balances&amp;quot; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;quot;Checks and balances&amp;quot; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;#39;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in America&amp;#39;s Guantanamo Bay as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&amp;nbsp; The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &amp;quot;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/8.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:37:56 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1989</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 8 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:37:56 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The United States of America is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&amp;#39;s by force; the Middle East is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;#39;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;#39;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; What are the principles of the United States? We have our &amp;quot;checks and balances&amp;quot; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;quot;Checks and balances&amp;quot; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;#39;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in America&amp;#39;s Guantanamo Bay as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&amp;nbsp; The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &amp;quot;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&amp;quot;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/7.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:37:10 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1982</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 7 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:37:10 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;st1:country-region&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;United&lt;/span&gt; States of America &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt; is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rsquo;s&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;s&lt;/span&gt; by force; the &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;st1:place&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Middle&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Middle&lt;/span&gt; East &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt; is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rsquo;s&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;s&lt;/span&gt; fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rsquo;s&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;s&lt;/span&gt; fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;What are the principles of the &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;st1:country-region&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;United&lt;/span&gt; States&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;?&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;?&lt;/span&gt; We have our &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;checks&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;checks&lt;/span&gt; and balances&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Checks&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;Checks&lt;/span&gt; and balances&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rsquo;t&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;t&lt;/span&gt; deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;st1:country-region&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;America&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&amp;rsquo;s&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;st1:place&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:placename&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Guantanamo&amp;lt;/st1:placename&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;st1:placetype&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;w:st=&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Bay&amp;lt;/st1:placetype&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;America&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;#39;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;s&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Guantanamo&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;Bay&lt;/span&gt; as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&amp;nbsp; The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;" lang="EN"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Any&lt;/span&gt; &lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;Any&lt;/span&gt; society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/6.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:34:46 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1981</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 6 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:34:46 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States of America&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt; is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&amp;rsquo;s by force; the &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Middle East&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;rsquo;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;rsquo;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; What are the principles of the &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;? We have our &amp;ldquo;checks and balances&amp;rdquo; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;Checks and balances&amp;rdquo; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;rsquo;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;America&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&amp;rsquo;s &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:placename w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Guantanamo&amp;lt;/st1:placename&amp;gt; &amp;lt;st1:placetype w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Bay&amp;lt;/st1:placetype&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;" lang="EN"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/5.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:22:52 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1978</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 5 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:22:52 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States of America&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt; is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&amp;rsquo;s by force; the &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Middle East&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;rsquo;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;rsquo;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;What are the principles of the &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;? We have our &amp;ldquo;checks and balances&amp;rdquo; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;Checks and balances&amp;rdquo; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;rsquo;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;America&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&amp;rsquo;s &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:placename w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Guantanamo&amp;lt;/st1:placename&amp;gt; &amp;lt;st1:placetype w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Bay&amp;lt;/st1:placetype&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;" lang="EN"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/4.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:21:44 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1977</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 4 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:21:44 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States of America&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt; is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&amp;rsquo;s by force; the &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Middle East&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;rsquo;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;rsquo;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;What are the principles of the &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;? We have our &amp;ldquo;checks and balances&amp;rdquo; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Checks and balances&amp;rdquo; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;rsquo;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;America&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&amp;rsquo;s &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:placename w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Guantanamo&amp;lt;/st1:placename&amp;gt; &amp;lt;st1:placetype w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Bay&amp;lt;/st1:placetype&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-fareast-font-family:&amp;#39;Times New Roman&amp;#39;;mso-ansi-language:EN;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;" lang="EN"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;rdquo;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;rdquo;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/3.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:17:36 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1976</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 3 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:17:36 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;The &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States of America&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt; is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&amp;rsquo;s by force; the &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Middle East&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;rsquo;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;rsquo;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="background: SpringGreen;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;What are the principles of the &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;? We have our &amp;ldquo;checks and balances&amp;rdquo; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-indent:0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:small;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Checks and balances&amp;rdquo; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;rsquo;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;America&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&amp;rsquo;s &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:placename w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Guantanamo&amp;lt;/st1:placename&amp;gt; &amp;lt;st1:placetype w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Bay&amp;lt;/st1:placetype&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;span style="mso-ansi-language:EN;" lang="EN"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&amp;rdquo;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/2.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:16:11 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1975</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 2 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:16:11 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;h2&gt;Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div style="font-size: 90%;"&gt;Filed under: United States principles fundamentals falling empire Obama administration economy economic rights liberty freedom libertarian austrian property checks balances contract rule law laissez faire&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States of America&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt; is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&amp;rsquo;s by force; the &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Middle East&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;rsquo;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;rsquo;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-decoration: line-through; color: red;"&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;What are the principles of the &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;? We have our &amp;ldquo;checks and balances&amp;rdquo; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &amp;ldquo;Checks and balances&amp;rdquo; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;rsquo;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;America&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&amp;rsquo;s &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:placename w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Guantanamo&amp;lt;/st1:placename&amp;gt; &amp;lt;st1:placetype w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Bay&amp;lt;/st1:placetype&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;mso-ansi-language:EN;" lang="EN"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&amp;rdquo;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Disregarded Principles, a Falling Empire</title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/disregarded-principles-a-falling-empire/revision/1.aspx</link><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:14:14 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:1974</guid><dc:creator>laissez-faire</dc:creator><description>Revision 1 posted to Austrian Economics by laissez-faire on 6/8/2009 11:14:14 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; The &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States of America&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt; is essentially an empire. We have troops stationed around the world and we tell other nations what to do. We have political power over many, even when it&amp;rsquo;s by force; the &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Middle East&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; is not happy about our crusade for democracy, I assure you. Lately, the president does what he wants regardless of the laws of the land, the Constitution. He holds power far more supreme than intended by the country&amp;rsquo;s fathers who drafted our government. We attack without the consent of the governed (represented by the Congress) and we allow the freedom of speech but act upon what they say about sensitive topics to Big Brother. Our empire of the fifty states and its protectorates are going down. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;When the Romans broke their fundamentals of organization, they were smothered like a candle&amp;rsquo;s fire pinched out of life by two effortless fingers. They stopped their traditional tactics of war and mixed their lines, diluting it with foreigners (commonly referred to as barbarians). The U.S is following the same footsteps as previous empires, following them to the gallows. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="margin:0in 0in 0pt;text-indent:0.5in;" class="MsoNormal"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;What are the principles of the &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;United States&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;? We have our &amp;ldquo;checks and balances&amp;rdquo; that form the relationship of the three branches of government. In addition we hold close to us our property rights, freedom of information, freedom of speech, individual rights, right to trial by jury, the rule of law, right of contract, and, just as importantly, reliability of contract, as well as a general base of liberty. &amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p style="text-indent:0.5in;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Checks and balances&amp;rdquo; is a shrinking system as the president is grabbing at more and more power from the other branches. As I mentioned, the president now has a tradition of calling war by himself. What happened to the representation of the people calling war (the congress)? Corporate executives went to the White House in May to watch the President, Barrack Obama, give away their money. Is their money not &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;their &lt;/i&gt;property that &lt;i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal;"&gt;they &lt;/i&gt;worked for; where is their property rights? Just recently Barrack Obama censored out images from prisons that he didn&amp;rsquo;t deem appropriate for the public to see. Where is my right to freedom of information? On NPR there was a program talking about how a woman, among many others, realized the government was listening to her phone calls and she therefore censored what she said on the phone. What happened to her right to freedom of speech? Untried, occasionally innocent, suspects sit indefinitely in &amp;lt;st1:country-region w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;America&amp;lt;/st1:country-region&amp;gt;&amp;rsquo;s &amp;lt;st1:place w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;&amp;lt;st1:placename w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Guantanamo&amp;lt;/st1:placename&amp;gt; &amp;lt;st1:placetype w:st=&amp;quot;on&amp;quot;&amp;gt;Bay&amp;lt;/st1:placetype&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/st1:place&amp;gt; as we speak. If rights are unalienable amongst humans as we say, where are their rights to trial by jury? The government formatted a plan to tax 90% of AIG bonuses that had been in contract legitimately for months because they thought it was unfair to the people. Where is the guarantee of contract? Its sanctity has been stripped. Millions of people are unemployed but they could get a job if minimum wage was abolished. Give the people the right to decide if they prefer low wage employment or unemployment. Where is their right of contract?&lt;span style="mso-spacerun:yes;"&gt;&amp;nbsp; &lt;/span&gt;The rule of law is being ignored, individual rights ravaged, and liberty traded away as a society for security: security of your job, security from terrorism, security from racism, security from competition, the list goes on. Our principles are broke, our empire is falling. Just be aware of what Benjamin Franklin taught us, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:11pt;mso-ansi-language:EN;" lang="EN"&gt;&amp;ldquo;Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.&amp;rdquo;&amp;lt;o:p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/o:p&amp;gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>The natural level of profit in a free market.  </title><link>http://mises.org/Community/wikis/economics/the-natural-level-of-profit-in-a-free-market/revision/0.aspx</link><pubDate>Sun, 22 Feb 2009 11:49:20 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">944abf2b-d1be-4bf2-990d-438cb0e377e9:96</guid><dc:creator>Livemike</dc:creator><description>Current revision posted to Austrian Economics by Livemike on 2/22/2009 5:49:20 AM&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The natural state of affairs when market entry is free is for net
utility gain from profit-orientated investment to tend to zero. This is
not the same thing as average monetary gains because the marginal
utility of money declines as the amount of money an individual or group
has increases. Therefore the utility of money that might be gained in
profit is less than the utility of the same amount of money that might
be lost. An investment would only make sense from a utility point of
view if the potential profit was large enough to cancel out the greater
value of dollars lower on the graph of $ vs. marginal utility. The
difference between the marginal value of higher dollars and lower
dollars tends to zero as the difference in the level decreases, at a
small enough margin the derivative is almost a flat line.&amp;nbsp; The rate of profit in a free market is therefore positive and indeterminable in advance, assuming people have no preference for gaining income by profit compared to wage labor.&amp;nbsp; This however cannot be assumed.&amp;nbsp; People may have a preference for recieving income as profits, as wages or in some other way.&amp;nbsp; Therefore the average rate of profit could be negative if there is a general preference for undertaking entrepreneurial tasks rather than wage tasks. &amp;nbsp; .&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt; Comparetively
rich people would probably be able to make bigger investment will
staying in a comparatively straight area of the graph. The value of
higher dollars would not be significantly greater than lower dollars
until the gap between them was quite large. Therefore rich people would
make larger investments for the same level of profit or make the same
size investment for lower levels of profit than poor people and would
therefore tend to make more smaller profits more often.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item></channel></rss>
