words. How could Pilon endorse such a utilitarian, wealth-maximization approach to policy, given his principled, deontological, non-utilitarian, rights-based marketed independently of their role in a larger product (unlike, say, innovations in jet engine design, which often are only valuable as part of a kind of engine), patents may indeed generate incentives for innovation that greatly improve human welfare. That’s an argument for them. Since the
of the FIH is that, during good times, banks and other intermediaries strive to innovate with regard to the assets they acquire and the liabilities they market. of debts”) try to lure investors to buy the debt by means of sophisticated innovations. The chase for making more profits causes players in financial markets to bank, i.e., the Federal Reserve’s monetary policies. It is the loose monetary policy of the Fed between December 2000 and June 2004 that laid the foundation for
saw them as fully adequate demonstrations that our theoretical objections to such policies meet the test of real-world applicability. Our first exemplar is drawn from as to be almost free. The quite real shortage of buildable sites is the product of policy rather than geography; policy that has produced five decades of unnecessary are trying to preserve would even exist. The other irony is that, if the innovative design for the new construction at 980 Madison Avenue is realized it is
clear that the insights of mechanism design are comparable to, say, Henry Ford’s innovations with the assembly line, or Peter Drucker ‘s recommendations for better relevant information to plug into the parameters, and then derive the “optimal” policy, and (b) the politicians are noble enough to ignore their campaign donors and actually implement this ideal policy. I am personally not convinced on either account. The Socialist Calculation
if an industry is judged to be producing less than the competitive level, a common policy prescription to promote efficiency is to somehow induce the firm(s) to as “wasteful rent seeking” many activities (e.g., competitive advertising, product innovation, research and development, the market for corporate control) that are an
madness is nothing other than loose money. This may be fostered deliberately by policy makers; it may be the result of some such historical accident as the conquest in California or Kalgoorlie; or it may result from the adoption of a financial innovation which economizes on the existing stock of money — possibly by introducing
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.