It was a lost decade for Latin America. Years of populist governments combined with a commodity boom turned out to be our oil curse, our Dutch Disease. This disastrous mix made bad public policies look like temporary successes, pushing developing countries to an unsustainable path.

Murray Rothbard was relatively fond of guerrilla warfare. He wasn’t fond of war, of course, which he considered to be synonymous with mass murder, but he believed guerrilla warfare — conducted by non-state institutions — to be more morally legitimate than state-centric conventional warfare. 

Whether it is Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump who stands on the steps of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C in January 2017 to take the oath of office as president of the United States, all public opinion polls suggest whomever emerges victorious will have among the highest unfavorable ratings for anyone beginning their time in the White House. Both Clinton and Trump represent a failure for American democracy.

A recent survey of UK firms conducted by Deloitte has revealed that the referendum decision to leave the EU has battered business confidence, as “82 percent of chief financial officers from FTSE 350 and large private companies expect to cut capital spending in the next year, the biggest proportion on record.” The accountancy firm’s warnings of the expected economic downturn have reignited the push for further interest rate cuts.

There is a long tradition in Austrian economics and libertarian thought of presenting ideas not only to academic peers and fellow intellectuals, but directly to the broader public. Hayek’s Road to Serfdom, and Rothbard’s What Has Government Done to Our Money? are prime examples.

In the context of trade and immigration, borders are often discussed as a means of excluding foreign workers and foreign goods. In one way of thinking, borders provide an opportunity for states to exclude private actors such as workers, merchants, and entrepreneurs. On the other hand, borders can also serve a far more endearing function, and this is found in the fact that borders represent the limits of a state’s power. That is, while borders may exclude goods and people, a state’s borders also often exclude other states. 

A quarter of a century after the spectacular collapse of socialism in the Soviet empire, a large segment of the “millennial” generation (those born between 1982 and 2004) thinks socialism should be the wave of their future. A 2016 Pew Foundation poll found that 69 percent of voters under the age of 30 expressed “a willingness to vote for a socialist president,” and a 2015 “YouGov.com” poll revealed that 43 percent of young Americans between 18 had 29 had a “favorable” opinion of socialism” and prefer it to capitalism.

[Originally published July 18, 2016.]

Is it too much to say that since the French Revolution, the left has been the source of virtually all political evils, and continues to be so in our day?

There can be no doubt that great cruelty and violence can be and have been inflicted in the name of preserving the existing order.

In a recent post on Facebook, Professor Peter Boettke of the George Mason University Department of Economics speaks in harsh terms of the view of libertarian rights held by Murray Rothbard and others, who, he thinks, were too clever for their own good. He complains, “there is a habit among libertarians to engage in what I have called ‘litmus test’ libertarianism.

The Republican National Convention begins today in Cleveland, which many people see as a fitting location for the modern GOP. While many among the party base view Trump as a Lebron James-like figure who can lead the GOP back to victory, the Republican establishment has long cast the Donald more like Johnny Manziel: an immature, egotistical brat who doesn’t have the skills to manage on the big stage. While there is no way of knowing where the Trump-Pence ticket will end up in November, a big primetime television event seems to fit naturally with Trump’s pedigree as an entertainer.