Mises Wire

One of the oldest and most harmful economic fallacies is the belief that, at best, economic exchange is a zero-sum activity. However, free exchange in an unhampered market is always positive.

Trump says he wants to abolish the income tax and replace it with a tax on imports. That's just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. 

More Republicans support ending the Fed than ever before, while the bitcoin industry has made major investments in Trump's re-election. What could this mean going forward?

Gold prices are being driven by demand in Asia, and savers in East Asia are only too aware of risks stemming from the China-US economic war.

So-called economic moderates claim to support free-market capitalism, but then say that markets still need “some” government oversight. Free markets, however, don't need government-based rules because markets effectively regulate themselves.

In his failed 1896 presidential campaign, inflationist William Jennings Bryan declared that he would “not crucify mankind on a cross of gold.” But at least even Bryan favored silver money. Today‘s political candidates will crucify us on a cross of paper.

Only large, rich countries can indulge the idea of open borders. Haitian migration into the Dominican Republic shows why smaller, poorer countries face a much different reality. 

Voting is controversial among Austro-Libertarians for many reasons. However, if one does choose to vote, one should understand that the state is never constrained by the voters and cannot be “reformed.”

As with any other government-controlled institution, a high level of public skepticism about elections is healthy.

The iconic Hermès Birkin bag helps illustrate Carl Menger’s “Theory of the Good,” and Ludwig von Mises’s explanation of human action.