[Preface to Revised Edition of Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market , May 1993] One of the unhappy casualties of World War I, it seems, was the old-fashioned treatise on economic “principles.” Before World War I, the standard method, both of presenting and advancing economic thought, was to write a disquisition setting forth one’s vision
The sub-discipline of international relations in the twentieth century has been dominated by the realist idea that cooperation between state actors is extremely unlikely due to the anarchic nature of the international system. According to the traditional realist logic, the international system lacks an independent enforcing agency capable of
[An MP3 audio file of this article, read by Steven Ng, is available for download .] Few debates in the social sciences are ostensibly more boring and pointless than those involving the definitions of words. If one group of people chooses to define a word one way, while another group of people chooses to define that same word in a completely
Imagine for a moment that you are omniscient. Endowed with such knowledge, you would completely understand how the world “works.” You would completely understand how light works, how molecules and atoms work, how genetics work, how tectonic plates work, and how the universe came into existence. There would be nothing about the social or natural
One of the most subtle aspects of modern economic theory is the relation between subjective value and objective money prices . This is an area where the Austrians have an advantage over other schools, because they care more about their forebears than most other economists, and because Austrians were instrumental in the development of
“That’s quite a markup,” remarked my father as he paid for my six-year-old son’s treat after a soccer game. “Three dollars for a cup of ice.” It’s true; the price tag did seem steep at first. But as we analyzed the situation more carefully — my father is also a fan of free markets — we realized that there was no reason to be outraged at the
One of the most important developments in the history of economic thought was the so-called Marginal Revolution of the early 1870s, in which the older cost (and more specifically, labor) theory of value was overturned by subjective value theory. This was an unambiguous advance in the science of economics, analogous to the superiority of
In a previous article I explained some of the major problems with a cost theory of value. In the current essay I will lay out the basics of the modern subjectivist approach to price theory and show how it is a clear improvement over the cost theory. The Austrian Approach Starts with Individual Preferences Although the “marginalist revolution” of
“If it ain’t Menger or his direct student Eugene [sic] Von BB, it ain’t Austrian. Sorry #Mises : respectfully, too many mistakes were made.” ~ August 10 tweet by Sandeep Jaitly Last week the Keiser Report , hosted by Max Keiser, featured a segment with Sandeep Jaitly , a follower of Antal Fekete and the author of the above tweet. Now, Jaitly
A recent trip to Santa Monica, California, provided me with a clear explanation of why Californians, despite all their wealth, talent, and resourcefulness, have the energy supply system of a Third World country. Like so many tiny Latin American dictatorships, or the outer provinces of India, Californians can no longer rely on a steady supply of
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.