I’d like to consider some criticisms of anarcho-capitalist theories of property acquisition raised by Jesse Spafford in his article “Social Anarchism and the Rejection of Private Property,” included in The Routledge Handbook of Anarchy and Anarchist Thought , edited by Gary Chartier and Chad Van Schoelandt (Routledge, 2021). Spafford, a research
Abundance, Generosity, and the State: An Inquiry into Economic Principles by Jörg Guido Hülsmann Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2024; 452 pp. It is rare to encounter a book that has the potential to reshape the way we look at economics, but Guido Hülsmann has done exactly that in Abundance, Generosity, and the State . Hülsmann is one of the leading
Libertarians — and Murray Rothbard in particular — are not pacifists, but reject the killing of innocents and other unjustified forms of military aggression, writes David Gordon. This audio Mises Daily is narrated by Dianna
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy. Second Edition. By Hans-Hermann Hoppe. Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006. Xii + 433 pgs. Hans Hoppe is a thinker of striking originality, and this excellent collection of his essays is filled with arguments: it is, as my great teacher Walter Starkie used to
[ Are the Rich Necessary? Great Economic Arguments and How They Reflect Our Personal Values. By Hunter Lewis. Axios Press, 2007. Viii + 277 pgs.] Hunter Lewis’s excellent book differs from nearly all other books on economics. Most books defend a particular point of view: a work by Duncan Foley, e.g., will be much more favorable to Marxism than one
[ Making Economic Sense • Murray N. Rothbard • Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1995 • 439 pages] Murray Rothbard had a remarkable ability to ask fundamental questions that others, even those within his own free-market camp, missed. After Rothbard touched an issue, it could never remain the same. This quality emerges in the present outstanding
“Democracies, swollen with self-righteousness, tend to wage unlimited wars “ The Bush administration’s invasion of Iraq provides one further confirmation, if any were needed, of Randolph Bourne’s dictum, “war is the health of the state.” Faced with so massive an instance of aggression, the question arises: can we do without the state altogether?
[ Secular Philosophy and the Religious Temperament: Essays 2002–2008 • By Thomas Nagel • Oxford, 2010 • 171 pages] Thomas Nagel has a remarkable ability to penetrate to the essence of important issues; and this collection of his recent essays and reviews displays his characteristic depth. I should like to concentrate first on “The Problem of
[ The Square and the Tower: Networks and Power, and the Freemasons to Facebook by Niall Ferguson, Penguin Press, 2018.] Niall Ferguson has impeccable credentials as a member of the “Establishment” (a word that comes, he tells us, from the historian A.J.P. Taylor). He has taught history at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and NYU and is also a
An Intrinsic Right Mises Review 6, No. 2 (Summer 2000) PROPERTY AND FREEDOM Richard Pipes Alfred A. Knopf, 1999 xvi + 328 pgs . Mr. Pipes has written a very good book, but he has made life difficult for me as a reviewer. He defends the importance of property rights throughout the book, but he does not argue systematically, in the style of his
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.