A Chinese fable called “Three in the Morning and Four in the Evening,” relates this story: An old man in ancient China wanted to reduce his pet monkeys’ food as he can’t afford the previous amount any longer. He first told them that he would reduce the monkey’s ration to three acorns in the morning and four acorns in the evening. Thereupon, his monkeys protested angrily. Then the old man said, “How about four in the morning and three in the evening?” Knowing that he would get four acorns the next morning, the monkey became ecstatic.

In the current discussion about immigration, Ludwig von Mises is often invoked by libertarians as a staunch proponent of free trade in the broad sense that pertains to the free movement of goods, capital, and labor. Mises has even been proclaimed by some libertarians as an advocate of open borders.

Direct and indirect means of livelihood

ECONOMICS, as pointed out in Chapter I, is the study of the various problems which arise when men try to make a living. Making a living is getting the means of living — first, the barest physical necessities, and then the comforts and refinements that men desire. A solitary man getting his living on a desert island would be dealing only with the impersonal materials and forces of nature, the physical environment. Nevertheless certain economic problems arise even there, and certain simple economic principles apply.

Yesterday the NFL granted Mark Davis his request to move the Raiders from Oakland to Las Vegas.

According to reports, Danielle Bregoli, the 14-year-old girl who became a popular internet meme this year due to a failed intervention on the Dr. Phil show, has signed a deal for her own reality television show. On a personal level, there is much to find offensive in Bregoli’s fame, in spite of her obvious marketing prowess.

Writing in The New York Times Magazine about last week’s stillborn RyanCare bill, Robert Draper recalls an alleged conversation he had with White House strategist Stephen Bannon earlier this year. Bannon, lamenting the ability of both congressional Democrats and Republicans to get things done, contrasts identity-obsessed progressives with one-trick pony conservatives:

European political leaders gathered in Malta last month to discuss the future of the European Union. During the meeting, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made sure to denounce any post-Brexit move on the part of the United Kingdom to lower corporate taxes. (Merkel condemned efforts by the US to cut corporate taxes as well.) Merkel called any such move a “race to the bottom.” 

Historically most recessions in the US are preceded by significant declines in the differential or interest rate spread between the 10-year T-bond and the 3-month Treasury security. Typically, this narrowing in the spread occurs many months before the onset of the recession.

Conversely, the widening in the spread occurs many months before the beginning of the economic recovery.

What is the reason for these changes in the interest rate spread?

We’ve recently made it easier for readers to browse the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics. 

You can now browse all issues in chronological order here, and you can download full issues or individual articles as PDFs. 

Right now, all articles are linked going back nine years, and we’ll continue to add more links. In either case, all articles are listed going back to 1998.