According to popular thinking, not every increase in the supply of money will have an effect on economic activity. For instance, if an increase in supply is matched by a corresponding increase in the demand for money, we are told, then there won’t be any effect on the economy. The increase in the supply of money is neutralized, so to speak, by an increase in the demand for money, or the willingness to hold a greater amount of money than before.

What do we mean by demand for money? And how does this demand differ from demand for goods and services?

As the National Front is gaining ground in France’s latest regional elections, in Venezuela the opposition to President Maduro’s Socialist Party has won two thirds of the parliamentary seats in the country’s National Assembly. Although the media had been broadcasting Hugo Chavez’s old speeches instead of covering the election, the Democratic Unity coalition obtained 110 out of 165 seats—even from the Caracas slumps, long known bastions of ‘Chavismo

India’s newest gold monetization scheme has been a colossal failure. After one month, it has netted only one kilogram (2.2 pounds avoirdupois) out of an estimated 20,000 tonnes (44 million pounds avdp) of privately-held gold. Why is that? Well, let’s look at how the program works.

The Mises Wire depends on unaffiliated contributors for a significant proportion of its content. We welcome submissions from everyone, regardless of educational achievements and other credentials, so please send us your essays!

We’re looking for short articles that approach real-world economic issues from an Austrolibertarian perspective (read: not just theory). We also accept history and sociology pieces that make use of Austrian or libertarian ideas. Radicalism is welcome, but submissions should aim to reach people beyond the free-market sphere.

“Sugar Vs. Corn Syrup” reads the headline about legal wrangling between enablers of America’s sweet tooth. Big sugar accused big corn syrup of misleading the public with an ad campaign that it is “nutritionally the same as sugar,” asking for $1.5 billion in damages. Corn syrup producers had already sued for $530 million in damages, alleging that sugar producers falsely depicted corn syrup as less healthy than sugar.

Westport News today has a feature on Rothbard Ale + Larder, a new “European gastropub” that opened up in downtown Westport, CT. 

The article notes that the pub’s name is “a nod to Murray Rothbard, an American economist and political writer.” 

What can one expect from a Rothbardian gastropub? 

Peter Simpson is a distinguished classicist and philosopher, known especially for his work on Aristotle’s ethics and politics.

A paper written by Zachary Feinstein discussing the economic consequences of blowing up the Death Star has been making the rounds on social media. While I’m a fan of using Star Wars to teach economics, Feinstein makes a very basic economic mistake in his focus on the Death Star’s destruction.

Joseph Schumpeter famously predicted that capitalist society would be destroyed by its own success, and the recent student protests around the US are a sign he may have been right.