Other Schools of Thought

Monetary reform leading to a gold standard, which would solve numerous problems resulting from the present fiat money order, needs to become a populist issue to enjoy success.

Franz Oppenheimer explains in detail the manner in which the state seizes control of society, one stage at a time.

Professor Walter Block joins the show to discuss the first section of The Ethics of Liberty, and gives us his unstinting take on Rothbard's vitally important treatment of natural law philosophy. There are also lots of great Blockean anecdotes you'll want to hear!

Prince Peter Kropotkin, the communist-anarchist theorist, sought to place his political and ethical doctrine on a scientific basis.

Key methodological differences between Austrians were highlighted in Milton Friedman's "The Methodology of Positive Economics." A key piece of conflict: Friedman's focus on prediction rather than explanation.

Patrick Newman and Tho Bishop join the show to dissect The Betrayal of the American Right, which is both a critical history and a fascinating political memoir of Rothbard's own journey to libertarianism.

The socialists cannot help admitting that capitalism has the tendency to improve the material conditions of mankind. But, they say, it has diverted men from the higher and nobler pursuits.

Key methodological differences between Austrians were highlighted in Milton Friedman's "The Methodology of Positive Economics." A key piece of conflict: Friedman's focus on prediction rather than explanation.

One day, the Institute publishes an article criticizing Republicans. The Left cheers, but the Rights denounces us. The next day we criticize Democrats and the Right cheers while the Left is enraged. Yet our position is always consistently against the state. 

The impossibility theorem, developed by Nobel-winning economist Robert Mundell, paints a false tradeoff between the free movement of capital, fixed exchange rates, and effective monetary policy. Under a gold standard, all three are a possibility.