Two recent discussions about resource prices conveys much good information. This morning I was greeted with a discussion in the blogosphere about oil prices. As Russ Roberts explains, the Hotelling principle, that prices of resources of fixed supply should rise at the market rate of interest, cannot be applied to oil, if for no other reason that
[ Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life , b y Nassim Nicholas Taleb] The multitalented writer, businessman, and academic Nassim Nicholas Taleb hates being called an “intellectual,” so let’s instead refer to him as a thinker and note that he is one of the more important thinkers of our time. That importance comes not so much from the
Volume 6, No. 2 (Summer 2003) Austrian business cycle theory ( ABCT ), we contend, is essential to understanding the recent boom and bust cycle in the American (and, to a great extent, the global) economy. That does not mean that every recent macroeconomic event is explained by ABCT . For instance, exchange rate manipulation (e.g., the
The Free Market 23, no. 10 (October 2003) W hile listening to New York City’s CBS News Radio the other day, I was struck by the juxtaposition of two stories, apparently placed together without ironic intent. The first one was about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg visiting Staten Island to gripe about the “overdevelopment” of the borough. In his
While getting on the escalator at the London underground station tonight, I noticed a sign reading: STAND ON THE RIGHT HOLD THE HANDRAIL NO STROLLERS DOGS MUST BE CARRIED Well, I was standing on the right, I was holding the handrail, and I certainly had no stroller. But I wasn’t carrying a dog! Luckily, no one noticed. But I’m thinking of getting
Many science textbooks contain similar one-or-two-paragraph histories of how modern science miraculously emerged from the dark swamp of ignorance we call the Middle Ages. The main problem with such stories is that they are almost entirely false. Let’s compare the picture painted above with the current understanding of scholars studying the history
Here is an interesting paper by Christopher Coyne and Steve Davies. It counters the argument that empire produces public goods by pointing to the many public bads of empire.
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.