Most people reading this were probably born before the modern state of Yemen existed. In my office is an outdated globe from the 1980s, and if one looks carefully, one will find the countries of North Yemen and South Yemen, which were both independent countries (from their respective dates of independence) until 1990.
The 2015 Houston Mises Circle, “Breaking Away: The Case for Secession” begins this Saturday morning. Watch all the lectures online, live from Houston, on Saturday, January 24.
Here’s the schedule for both in-person attendees and online viewers. The online events will begin with Jeff Deists talk at 10:00 AM (all times are Central):
Amongst the big winners from the Obama Fed’s Great Monetary Experiment has been the private equity industry. Indeed this went through a near-death experience in the Great Panic (2008) before its savior — Fed quantitative easing — propelled it forward into new riches. There is no surprise therefore that its barons who join the political stage (think of the last Republican presidential candidate) have no interest in monetary reform. And the same attitude is common amongst leading politicians who hope private equity will provide them high-paid jobs when they quit Washington.
Henry Manne passed away yesterday at the age of 86. Manne was a wonderfully smart, creative, and iconoclastic writer and teacher best known for his work on corporate and securities law, particularly his vigorous defense of insider trading and his pathbreaking analysis of the market for corporate control. He wrote on many other topics as well, including one near and dear to my heart, the organization and governance of higher education. Manne was also an academic entrepreneur, one of the founders of the law-and-economics movement.
Economic discourse is desperately in need of Austrians. Note that I say Austrians rather than Austrian economics. Economics would certainly have much to gain from adopting Austrian economics, but even in the current “Austrian-less” state of economics they would benefit greatly from including Austrians. The reason for this is Austrians’ fascination for, understanding and application of deductive logic, which separates them (us) from all other schools of economic thought.
Another year is under way, and we are in the midst of yet another central bank-induced credit bubble. This time, the culprit is shaping up to be the oil and gas industry. Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has seen a marked rise in usage in the United States over the last six years. It represented a new and innovative way to extract hydrocarbons from rock formations deep underground. Many may be tempted to say that the emergence of fracking, as well as the jobs it has created, is further evidence of the free market at work.
You can fix your currency or you run independent monetary policy. But you cannot do both at the same time. In spectacular fashion, the Swiss government finally capitulated and decided control over the money supply was more important than a fixed rate against the euro. The Swiss franc rocketed up 30 percent in value minutes after the central bank’s decision to let the currency float.
Patrick Barron writes:
Imagine you are a promising car mechanic who wants to open a new car repair shop. You would like to provide basic services to low-income citizens at affordable prices. You would charge a bare minimum for your labor, and you would buy used (but decent) replacement parts. This service would be great for people who just want to keep their cars running for a couple more years — nothing fancy, just bare functionality.
