Mises Daily

Carl Menger's Principles of Economics was written in 1871 during the dawn of a great economic transition. Steel displaced iron, the middle class grew as never before, and average life spans increased as never before in human history. Menger's brilliant book on economics seemed to speak to the new age of market-driven prosperity for Europe and the world.

All too often, America’s wars are presented as conflicts between the “good guys,” us, and the “bad guys,” our enemies.

As society and technology progress, the instantaneous sharing of knowledge and information is not something to fear but to celebrate. In a world where capital moves at the speed of light, flash trading ensures that resources will continue to meet more deserving hands and be put to more efficient use.

Is the United States, or are the United States?

Education can regulate what intelligence one has, but it cannot give one any more.

First they came for the cigarettes, then Hank Williams Jr. got knocked off Monday Night Football.

When politics isn't fomenting conflict, raising time preferences, and stupefying the nation, it is attenuating progress. Contrary to the incessant jabbering on the need for "change," all politicians despise change. Change erodes political power and undermines regimes.

There is no evidence that a market system will bring about a tendency toward monopolistic growth; the state does that.

The more you behave, the more people trust you. The more certain it becomes that you will pay what you owe, the more people are going to extend you credit. The truly wonderful thing about this system is that it is entirely private. No one is coerced.

Austrian economists have long recognized that the economy is far more complex than simple models capture.