Intellectual property is inherently disruptive to the market mechanism, as the latter is understood by Austrian economics, and is thus prejudicial to human welfare. To understand why, one must first understand the social function of entrepreneurship in the market economy. Entrepreneurs arrange and deploy the factors of production in order to
The excellent personal tech columnist Walter Mossberg discusses the marketing genius exhibited by Steve Jobs (who just announced his retirement ) throughout his career (see video below). About Jobs and Steve Wozniak’s introduction of the Apple II, he says, They popularized the idea of the personal computer. () But after bringing the personal
The city of Salem, Oregon invoked a law that prohibits residents from having more than three yard sales per year to shut down a woman with terminal bone cancer who was trying to raise money to pay her medical bills. The Reddit community is aghast at such heartlessness. Yet they do not realize that most of them support policies that result in
Can you imagine how awesome a blog by Murray Rothbard would be? Or Mises Dailies by Mises himself? These great men were not given their full due in their lifetimes, because they were writing in the media era of the monolithic broadcast and the monolithic print run. With such a model, power and interest has a competitive advantage over truth. But
This post is one in a series entitled Posthumous Refutations . Back in 2005, Rainbough Phillips at Distributed Republic had the splendid idea of a Capitalism Appreciation Day . She walked the reader through her day expressing her appreciation for every for-profit entity that made her life more pleasant. It inspired me to do the same back then,
This post is one in a series entitled Posthumous Refutations . Previously in this series: Capitalism, Competition, Collaboration, and Kindness . Media and real estate mogul Mortimer Zuckerman has written an op-ed piece in which he tries to deflect blame from the Fed, and even proposes giving it more power. In what amounts to a double-salvo on
This post is one in a series entitled Posthumous Refutations . Previously in this series: Absolving with Faint Criticism: A Media and Real Estate Mogul Defends the Fed . The Independent is propagating the “findings” of a two-year study conducted by two British socialist outfits, the Fabian Society, and the Webb Memorial Trust. Its article’s
In the Paul Krugman column which Israel Curtis posted about yesterday, our generation’s second coming of Keynes shows just how thoroughly he embraces what Ludwig von Mises called the “ Inflationist View of History ” by espousing the ridiculous notion that the late 19th century, a time of unprecedented economic growth, was dominated by a “Long
A mere ten days ago, public awareness of Hayek’s classic, The Road to Serfdom , exploded . The Mises Academy, with the reflexes and nimbleness that you’ll only find with an online, consumer-driven university, has turned on a dime to seize the moment. In the weeks that follow, thousands of conservatives will be receiving a moving and powerful
From the Dirty Dancing Wikipedia article Later, Baby discovers that Johnny’s dance partner Penny Johnson ( Cynthia Rhodes ) is distraught over being pregnant by Robbie Gould ( Max Cantor ), the womanizing waiter who is dating and cheating on Lisa, Baby’s sister. Baby learns that Robbie plans to do nothing about the pregnancy as he says “Some
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.