Entrepreneurship

Our greatest enemy today is the economic illiteracy and confusion on the part of those who insist on “planning,” “stabilizing,” and straitjacketing the economy.

If consumers are free to choose, any entrepreneur focused on serving customers can compete against even huge established corporations. Moreover, the market provides a way to reward the most innovative and customer-centered entrepreneurs.

David Cowan discusses his recent book, Frank H. Knight: Prophet of Freedom.

Per Bylund discusses his recent book, The Problem of Production: A New Theory of the Firm.

Imposing restrictions on trade is not a mere academic exercise. It requires government agents, courts, prisons, police, and the whole panoply of the punitive, coercive state. To oppose free trade is to support more jails, fines, regulations, and more.

Fetter's neglected work is the source of some of the greatest insights in Austrian economics, and deeply influenced Mises, Rothbard, and others.

Ludwig von Mises reminds us that thanks to the rise of markets and capitalism, human beings gained more access to more abundance than ever before. And it is the consumers, not the producers, who have power over the market process.

Lego has finally managed to attract girls to their products with the Lego Friends line. In response, feminists have denounced the line for being too "girly." But Lego is just responding to market demand and what Mises called consumer sovereignty.

For some people, there's nothing that can’t be improved by a big dose of government regulation. Now, even the virtual economies of video games are being targeted as the next frontier in labor laws, price controls, and more.

For some economists, the fact that entrepreneurs make cinnamon rolls instead of selling only celery sticks is a “market failure.” These economists have appointed themselves the arbiters of what is “best” for people, and therefore, what should be sold in the marketplace.