Value and Exchange

"Giving back" is big these days, but how can we know if we’re really making a contribution that someone values? Economics, fortunately, gives us an answer: the best way to "give back" is to earn honest money.

Ebenezer Scrooge is guilty of no crime, but he is a bad economist. This is demonstrated by Scrooge's ignorance about the subjective nature of value, and by his insistence that he is being robbed by his clerk who negotiates a day off.

The rich make new resource-intensive products economically feasible. Those wealthy early-adopters of new products act as mannequins on which new products are draped, increasing demand as producers attempt to bring those products to the mass market.

Mises Daily Friday: Government Save Us From "Overpriced" Chinese Food

If a customer consents to paying a certain price at the time of purchase, he cannot later claim that he was overcharged. The fact that he was charged the right amount is clear in the fact that he consented to the purchase in the first place.

If cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are being used as money, and if Carl Menger correctly tells us that money must have some kind of antecedent value, then as economists it becomes our job to discover what exactly is that antecedent value. A fresh reading of Menger's Regression Theorem provides several insights.

Many people think that tipping is a results from stingy employers not paying a “living wage.” But tipping solves multiple economic prob

Tiny houses are a growing phenomenon as potential homeowners look to cut down on housing costs in the face of an economy rife with booms, busts, and spiking asset prices.