Capital and Interest Theory

Periods of crisis reveal something unsettling about human behavior—fear leads to the acceptance of what would have been unthinkable.

A tribute to the late Roger W. Garrison (1944–2026) was delivered at the opening reception of the Austrian Economics Research Conference (AERC) in Auburn, Alabama on March 19, 2026.

Marx built part of his system on the belief that capital would create the “great reserve army of the unemployed,” and modern Marxists have made the same claim about AI. However, we are seeing AI actually enhance the value of labor, not diminish it.

Dr. Per Bylund unpacks Rothbard's concept of the capitalist entrepreneur as the economy's true mover and shaker: the figure who not only forecasts future consumer demand but puts real capital behind those forecasts, bearing uncertainty and driving the structure of production.

Milton Friedman and others tried to explain interest rates using liquidity, economic activity, and inflation expectations. These things, however, only describe interest but do not explain it. Only the Austrian theory of time preference correctly explains interest.

Milton Friedman and others tried to explain interest rates using liquidity, economic activity, and inflation expectations. These things, however, only describe interest but do not explain it. Only the Austrian theory of time preference correctly explains interest.

All Austrian economists in my and subsequent generations owe Roger a debt of gratitude.

Although Federal Reserve policies are claimed to try to target the neutral rate of interest, it is not possible for that to be accomplished through monetary central planning.

Mainstream economics and finance theories hold that markets immediately adjust to new information. While market prices do reflect available information, the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) fails to explain the boom-bust cycle as well as Austrian analysis.

New scholarly work is appearing regularly in the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. Here are some articles from the latest issue.