[This article is part of the Understanding Money Mechanics series, by Robert P. Murphy. The series will be published as a book in 2021.]

[Author’s note: This is a condensed and simplified adaptation of an essay on conservatism I wrote for the Encyclopedia of Political Thought, edited by Gregory Claeys, and published by CQ Press (2013).]

Conservatism is a group of political and social ideologies that promote traditional social and political institutions, gradualism in political action, and opposition to radical political and social movements.

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The State of New York has wasted no time reminding Americans about its pathological disregard for personal freedom.

Allegations of corruption have recently been levied against Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau (since resigned) for not recusing themselves from discussions about awarding a contract to a charity which has financial ties to their families.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell laid out our targets for our future at the September 16 Federal Open Market Committee meeting. “Accommodative stance” on monetary policy, up to 0.25 percent interest rates until maximum employment, plus a moderate overshoot of the 2 percent inflation target all must be met. Clearly, there is no plan to ever stop monetary stimulus.

[This essay is a selection from “Why Austrian Economics Matters.”]

The complete confiscation of all private property is tantamount to the introduction of socialism. Therefore we do not have to deal with it in an analysis of the problems of interventionism. We are concerned here only with the partial confiscation of property. Such confiscation is today attempted primarily by taxation.

The ideological motivations of such action are immaterial. The only question of interest to us is merely: What is sought by these measures and what is actually accomplished?

[This article is a selection from What You Should Know about Inflation, first published in 1960.]

The cure for inflation, like most cures, consists chiefly in removal of the cause. The cause of inflation is the increase of money and credit. The cure is to stop increasing money and credit. The cure for inflation, in brief, is to stop inflating. It is as simple as that.