Cobden on Freedom, Peace, and Trade
[Originally published in 2003 as “Cobden on Freedom, Peace, and Trade,” a prize-winning essay in the Independent Institute’s Olive W. Garvey Fellowship contest.]
The Danger Not Over
[This 1801 essay is excerpted from Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004). Pendleton first published it in the Richmond Examiner in October 1801, and it was subsequently reprinted in other newspapers before the first meeting of the Republican Congress in December of the same year.]
The Law of Final Utility
[Excerpted from Böhm-Bawerk, “The Austrian Economists,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, volume 1 (1891).]
Venus Needs Some Austrians
The socialist dreamers of the Venus Project imagine a future society of incredible abundance. Robert Murphy explains that our world could become as wealthy as they say, but only through the defense of private property.
Shared Data Raises Hopes
The NYT this morning runs a headline about dramatic progress against Alzheimer’s due to a sharing of findings. The story is breathless about how scientists and institutions have, astonishingly, put aside their copyrights and patents in order to make progress. And the hope is that this will be a model for the future.
A.R.J. Turgot on the Power of Writing
From our forthcoming Turgot Collection:
The Law of Association
It’s one of the great contributions of economic science to human understanding and yet it remains one of the least understood concepts. The law of association shows that it is in everyone’s interest to expand human cooperation as much as possible.
Money: Sound and Unsound
The 26 essays collected in this book were published over the last three decades in a variety of academic journals, scholarly books, policy-report series, and periodicals aimed at the nonspecialist. Several were originally published in electronic periodicals. They share a common theme despite the fact that they were written at different times and for disparate audiences. This theme may be broadly summed up in the term “sound money” as defined by Ludwig von Mises. According to Mises,
Chancellor Questions Chinese Growth Miracle
I have been a skeptic of the Chinese growth miracle for some time. This excellent piece by Edward Chancellor, titled China’s Red Flags makes raises several objections to the bullish story.
Chancellor points out the similarities to the similar mania around Japan in the 80s when it was argued that their economic growth was due to their central planners’ ability to pick winners and direct investment into those sectors.
Caesar III and the Ubiquitous Failure of Central Planning
Ever played Caesar III? As the ultimate central planner, I can say that I tried my best to bring forth the paradise envisioned by Marx. Even so, my attempts were met with failure after abject failure.
