Mises Daily

It appears in the absence of formal government, that the Western frontier was not as wild as legend would have us believe.

Böhm-Bawerks was a brilliant economist, and we must also remember his example as a principled man of uncompromising integrity who in the political arena unswervingly fought for freedom and free markets.

The only relevant thing is that indirect exchange and money exist because the conditions for their existence were and are present.

Unlike the ongoing price inflation that is typically caused by central-bank expansion of the money supply, the price inflation generated by diminished supplies of goods is a one-shot affair. 

With the affected business interests demanding regulatory harmonization and the world's legislators and regulators willing to supply it, who will oppose it? The answer, all too often, is no one.

It appears upon sober reflection that the whole idea is as fanciful as the unicorn. No one in his right mind, save perhaps an incurable masochist, would voluntarily consent to be treated as governments actually treat their subjects.

So the government is concerned about rough debt-collection tactics? Try skipping out on your taxes this year and see how rough the tactics can become. 

That gold was used as money in the past is merely a historical fact. But the fact that gold was a form of private money, and thus not easily manipulated for government schemes, made it a target of countless intellectual and governmental assaults. 

Robert Murphy explains what it means to act "on the margin" or to think in terms of "marginality." Economists use the term often. The Mises Circle in interwar Vienna even had songs with refrains that included the words "marginal utility." Here is your one-article guide to understanding what all the fuss is about.

If the mixed economy is such a disaster, why do we have one? Because it enables the well-connected to loot the rest of us in a social democracy disguised as "democratic capitalism."