[This article is the introduction to Rationality, Psychology and Capitalism: Defending Economic Theory From Behavioral Imperialism by former Mises Summer Fellow Arkadiusz Sieroń.

Originally published December, 2013. Republished with permission of the author.

The so-called “Great Moderation,” for which our fiat-currency central bankers gave themselves so much credit, turned out to be the Era of Great Bubbles.  The U.S., in successive decades, had the Tech Stock Bubble and then the disastrous Housing Bubble. Other countries had real estate and government debt bubbles.

Investors had their eyes to the skies last Friday riding Elon’s SpaceX rocket, making him the world’s first trillionaire. John D.

Attention Upper Division Undergrads and Grad Students!

This year we will celebrate our Seventh class of Ron Paul Scholars and that means if you are a student interested in peace and prosperity, a non-interventionist foreign policy, liberty, and in making contacts among like-minded peers, we welcome your application to be a 2026 Ron Paul Scholar!

What is it?

[John J. Mearsheimer, Why Leaders Lie: The Truth about Lying in International Politics, Oxford University Press, 2011]

The word “interest” has two meanings in economic analysis. In a broad sense, it means the difference between the revenues of an activity and all the costs related to that same activity. This corresponds roughly to what in everyday language is meant by profit. Adam Smith and classical economists had indeed spoken of profit rather than interest when they spoke of the said difference. On the other hand, in the narrow sense, the word interest means the remuneration for a loan of money.