Mises in Peru: La Prensa Interview, 1950
The following interview of Ludwig von Mises was conducted in Lima, Peru, by La Prensa and published on January 4, 1950. Thanks to Cesar Usquiano for this translation.
During his stay in Peru, Professor Mises made some statements that we will see below.
Our first question, in the interview Mr. Ludwig von Mises gave us yesterday, referred to the suspension of Exchange Control, established in the country by Decree Law No. 11208.
Scientific Credibility and the File-Drawer Problem
A trope of contemporary social commentary is that “science” has somehow become “politicized,” such that people no longer trust or believe what is presented as the scientific consensus on important social, political, and economic issues.
Jerome Powell: Economic Educator
As a precursor to this October’s inaugural Economic Education Month, the Economic Education Group of the Federal Reserve held a virtual Q&A session between Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and a variety of students and teachers from across the country.
This education group includes over 50 subject matter experts who serve the outreach arm of the Fed. Their goal is to:
Happy Birthday Walter!
Today is Walter Block’s 80th birthday. The title of most famous book, Defending the Undefendable, best captures his way of looking at the world. He will take a libertarian principle and deduce consequences from it with iron consistency, often using imaginative examples while doing so. You may think he is wrong, but you will find it more difficult than you first suspect to show this. If you write to him with an objection, you will probably soon find yourself the co-author of a paper with him.
British Columbia’s Supreme Court Gets an F in Healthcare Economics
British Columbia’s supreme court recently upheld the province’s restrictions on privately funded healthcare, despite the pain and suffering inflicted on people who have been victimized by the government’s broken promise to provide universal healthcare. Justice John Steeves said his decision is supported by the economics of healthcare:
Don’t Be Fooled by the Fed’s Taper Talk
Question: Suppose the Fed doubles the supply of ”high-powered money” (monetary base) from around 15 percent to 30 percent of US GDP over a period of less than two years, then announces that the pace of increase will slow to just above zero within the next year providing that the economy remains “on course”; does this amount to a serious attenuation of monetary inflation?
Answer: No.
Abetting What Is No Libertarian Accomplishment
Leonard Read knew the problems of socialism and saw what a threat its growth was to Americans’ well-being as well as their liberties. He also saw that the attempt to improve things that cannot work well, as is true of socialistic efforts, could even tempt lovers of liberty into undermining what they believe in. Read made his case in “I Don’t Know,” Chapter 4 in his 1965 The Free Market and Its Enemy. It is worth reconsideration.