The Free Market was a monthly newsletter of the Mises Institute from 1982-2014, featuring articles from the Austrian viewpoint.
The Whiskey Rebellion: A Model for Our Time?
The Whiskey Rebellion has long been known to historians, but recent studies have shown that its true nature and importance have been distorted by friend and foe alike.
The Interest Rate Question
Interest rates, like any important price, are complex phenomena that are determined by several factors, each of which can change in varying, or even contradictory, ways.
The Meaning of Market Democracy
"When we call a capitalist society a consumers’ democracy we mean that the power to dispose of the means of production, which belongs to the entrepreneurs and capitalists, can only be acquired by means of the consumers’ ballot, held daily in the marketplace."
The Myth of “Planned Obsolescence”
In times of massive and frequent technological improvement, it would be sheer waste for manufacturers to dump resources into making products last past their usefulness.
Government Property Is Not Really “Public” Property
As I learned growing up in Allegheny County, the sign that reads, "Keep out, Property of Allegheny County," does not refer only to those who live outside the county.
The Fed: Reality Trumps Rhetoric
The Fed would have us believe that it has am impressive record of success in preventing recessions and improving the economy. The actual historical record suggests otherwise.
What Is “Originary Interest”?
People do not save and accumulate capital because there is interest. Interest is neither the impetus to saving nor the reward or the compensation granted for abstaining from immediate consumption. It is the ratio in the mutual valuation of present goods as against future goods.
Keynes and the Reds
If Keynes was such a model champion of the free society, how can we account for his peculiar comments, in 1933, endorsing, though with reservations, the social "experiments" that were going on at the time in Italy, Germany, and Russia?
The Prophetic Antifederalists
The Antifederalists were afraid the new proposed Constitution would lead to a supersized national government. They were right.
The Siren Song of the State
We Americans shall never have real, lasting peace so long as we give our allegiance to a king—that is, in our case, to the whole conglomeration of institutionalized exploiters and murderers we know as the state.
Should We Loot the Rich?
Redistribution is not ethical; it’s theft and destruction. It is simply a means to satisfy the envy of some who seek to harm those who have obtained greater wealth through the satisfaction of the wants of consumers.
Fractional Reserves and the Fed
In this testimony to Congress, Joseph Salerno describes how to fix the problem of fractional reserve banking.
Are Markets Boring?
The psychology of the anti-market left can be a puzzle, but even more confounding is the mentality of the anti-market right.
Christmas Movies and Bad Economics
Why are so many Christmas movies rife with villainous capitalists who constantly seek to ruin Christmas?
Poujade: Menace or Promise?
Anti-tax protests have a well-established history in French politics, as described by Murray Rothbard in this 1956 article.
The Uncompromising Rothbard
Quite simply, the science of liberty that Rothbard brought into clear relief is as brilliant in the hopes it creates for a free world as it is unforgiving of error.
Economics as a Vocation
As Mises put it "The development of a profession of economists is an offshoot of interventionism."
Cheers to the Peddler Class
The peddler was the middle class man who prided himself on his initiative, self-reliance, independence and, above all, his integrity.
In Defense of Payday Lending
Banning or restricting payday lending primarily works to limit the choices and freedoms exercised by people with bad credit or low incomes.
Mises: Scientist and Fighter
The historic contribution of Mises was represented not so much by the magisterial works that he produced in 1912, or 1922, in 1933, or 1940 — as by his courageous, lonely vigil during the arid decades of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.