Entrepreneurship

Recorded at the Mises Institute Supporters Summit, 31 October 2008; Auburn, Alabama.

Contrary to what Weisberg claims, the philosophy of freedom has, once again, been proven right.

And so it happened that Birmingham became "emphatically the town of 'free trade'," where practically no restrictions, commercial or municipal, were known" (Timmins 1866, p. ??), and where the notion of free trade was even to be extended, however briefly, to the nation's coinage.

"The enemies of capitalism and economic freedom … use the accusation of 'laissez faire' as a kind of ratchet for increasing the government's power."

By practicing plumbing without a license, Joe is bucking the system in a truly heroic way.

The law of comparative advantage tells us that no matter how much more productive they are than the rest of us, even people who are very productive can be made better off by trading with people who are not.

Bernstein's book takes us outside the here and now and helps us understand the big picture, and he does this by looking at the details of goods traded in lands far away in all times.

We agree that charity is a virtue, but sometimes well-intentioned plans have undesirable consequences or fail to live up to their potential because they change people's incentives.

As more individuals like Yoani Sanchez and Ron Paul emerge by means of the Internet, the inevitable long-term result will be a freer, happier, more prosperous world.

The change wrought by markets goes to the very core of the issue. It makes and breaks whole institutions, sometimes overnight. And it does so in a beneficial way for the whole, without blood and without the risk of unanticipated calamity.