In a recent Bloomberg Views piece, mainstream economist Noah Smith accused his Austrian critics of having “brain worms” and even “anti-semitic overtones.” He then mischaracterized what his critics were saying so that he could ridicule it.

This wasn’t very conducive to a dialogue. His last Bloomberg piece, out on July 10, is better. It offers a specific proposal: don’t raise today’s ultra low interest rates. Unfortunately it doesn’t say whether this advice is forever, or for now. But it is a specific proposal.

Over at Mises Canada, I address the question of why college tuition has increased by so much over the past few years. Turns out it might not have anything to do with the University system itself, but is the result of an increasingly failing public school system leaving its graduates with few options. Long story short, University degrees don’t cost so much because the

Several days ago I highlighted John H. Cochrane’s critique of modern macroeconomics.

In today’s Wall Street Journal Austrian Economist Mario J. Rizzo provides an excellent comment on Cochrane’s defense of modern modeling techniques.

Paul Krugman is at it again – distorting or misinterpreting work by other economists to attack critics of today’s central bank driven low interest rate environment and to defend policy status quo or to push for even more stimulus. This time the economist is Knut Wicksell whose work in both monetary theory and capital theory was part of foundation for Mises’s development of Austrian business cycle theory (ABCT).

Not all secessionist movements are created equal, because some secessionist regions are more economically independent than others. In the case of Venice and its region, secession in the medium- to long-term appears rather plausible because of Venice’s long history of economic success, political independence, and its current status as a wealthier region of Italy.