Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and chartalism—the state theory of money, which is often invoked by MMTers—both look back to certain key writers. One such writer is A. Mitchell Innes who penned an article entitled “What Is Money?” in 1913 for The Banking Law Journal. A modern and active MMT voice, L.
“Gold, which does not yield interest, typically performs well in periods of low interest rates and heightened uncertainty.”
Everybody knows we need sound money; but what exactly is sound money? A good way to answer this question is to consult the works of the two greatest economists of the twentieth century, Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. I am proud of the fact that Mises’s widow, the unforgettable Margit von Mises, warmly approved of the Mises Institute when I founded it in 1982, and proud that Murray was our Academic Vice-President and spoke at our conferences and events until his death in 1995.
[Editor’s note: 2026 marks the 100th anniversary of Murray Rothbard’s birth, and throughout the year we will feature many of his most important texts. In this article, taken from his seminal work Power and Market, Rothbard tackles the question of how a monopolistic state can claim to protect the property rights of its subjects.]
Homeownership—once a hallmark of the American dream—has drifted further and further out of reach for the average American. More than half of US renters believe they’ll never own a home, and 80 percent of Americans say homeownership is slipping out of reach.
The year 2027 marks the centennial of the creation of the Austrian Institute for Business Cycle Research (Institut für Konjunkturforschung), founded in 1927 by Mises and directed by Hayek. The establishment of the Institute marks the start of the Austrian masters’ decades-long collaboration in developing and extending Austrian theory. Their work constitutes the core of the Austrian corpus today, and their contributions secured the School’s theoretical relevance throughout the 20th century and beyond.
The estimated costs of the Fed’s building renovation project have risen from $1.9 billion to $2.5 billion. Hilariously, the Fed admits that one of the factors for the revised costs is “differences over time between original estimates and actual costs of materials, equipment, and labor.” Translation: “Looks like we’re not so good at forecasting and stabilizing future price inflation.”
