The Light of Freedom Burns Brightly in Poland
Poland is home to some very committed and energetic free-market organizations and individuals. My recent trip to Warsaw, for example, was hosted and sponsored by the Polish Ludwig von Mises Institute.
What That Jobs Report Might Really Mean
This post is one in a series entitled Posthumous Refutations. Previously in this series: Cash for Cranks.
Here is a statement release from Christina Roemer, quick to take today’s employment report as...
What’s Wrong with the Utility Function?
There is no such thing as constant or increasing marginal utility, as is assumed by the use of a utility function. In the Austrian approach, there can only be diminishing marginal utility.
An Objectivist Recants on IP
On the Mises blog, I noticed one of the frequent commentators on IP-related blog threads, one Bala, used to defend the IP position but of late had been taking an anti-IP position. We discussed this privately and I asked him to give me a short write-up about his thought process as he changed his mind on this issue. I find such “conversion” stories interesting, and have seen it in others as well--myself, Jeff Tucker, etc. He sent it to me; I append it below.
Getting Nasty in Dubai
The ‘Skyscraper Curse’ strikes again
There is often a correlation between financial bubbles bursting and attempts to construct the world’s tallest building, says William Pesek on Bloomberg.com. In 1931, for instance, the Empire State building, designed in the exuberant 1920s, finally opened, “presaging years of gloom”.
New Paper: Human Rights and Economic Liberalization
Carden, Art and Robert A. Lawson. 2009. Human Rights and Economic Liberalization, under review at Business and Politics.
This paper has made the rounds at a handful of conferences and is finally available. Thanks to everyone who has offered comments and suggestions.
The abstract:
For Civilization, It Is Mises or Bust
When an Austrian economist considers the structure of production, he doesn’t just dwell on crude aggregates, such as the total value of capital goods. Rather, he considers how long (or how “roundabout”) a given structure of production is.
An Ideal Guide to Keynes’s Dangerous and Destructive Economics
Keynes had much more in mind than a cure for depressions. He thought that boom conditions could be permanently maintained by lowering the rate of interest nearly to zero. In that way, the scarcity of capital could be ended.
IP and Artificial Scarcity
Someone recently told me “I just ran across a few of your interviews and writings. I was particularly impressed with the point that IP creates scarcity where none existed before. Despite its obviousness, it is characteristic of IP that had not occurred to me before.”
So I thought I would elaborate a bit on this. The “artificial scarcity” insight is indeed a good one, but it is not mine. From pp. 33-34 of Against Intellectual Property:
Austrian Student Scholars Conference Report
This weekend, I had the pleasure of traveling to Grove City College in Grove City, PA to attend the Austrian Student Scholars Conference.
