A Prophet Without Honor in His Own Land
The still of the night was broken by the heavy drone of the Austro-Hungarian Bank’s printing presses. Mises explained that those presses were running incessantly day and night, making banknotes.
Veto of the Texas Seed Bill
Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character.
How Can the Fed Prevent Asset Bubbles?
How can massive monetary pumping and bottom-level interest rates possibly prevent an economic disaster? All it can do is to redistribute existing real savings — that is, real wealth — which is necessary to support economic activity.
G.A. Cohen
G.A. Cohen, who retired last year from Oxford, died on August 5. Although he was a Marxist, he took libertarian ideas with great seriousness; and his efforts to come to grips with the self-ownership principle merit careful study. I rate him one of the best philosophers of the past fifty years. He was extraordinarily sharp in argument but, at least judged by the few times I was in touch with him, warm and generous. He was also extremely funny. I will miss Jerry Cohen.
Modern Austrian History: A Response to Pete (Part 1)
Over the past few years there has been an ongoing and productive dialogue over the viability of alternative strategies available to young scholars seeking to pursue a vocation in Austrian economics in academia. While there have been disagreements, most parties to the conversation have treated their opponents’ positions with respect and scholarly restraint.
Profiting from Sickness
An old-time socialist cliche in favor of socialized medicine is that private companies profit from people’s sickness, which is supposed to be unconscionable. Actually the best way to meet people’s needs is through a system that permits profitability as a sign of success and efficiency, just as it makes sense that farmers should profit from people’s hunger or builders should profit from people’s need for shelter etc.
Health Economics
There seems to be a consensus that some sort of “reform” is needed for the American health care system. I keep hearing people say “at least Obama is trying to do something,” as if good intentions really solve problems. Many people have been asking about the Austrian perspective on the problems with American health care.
My Lucas Critique
Mario Rizzo has an interesting take on Robert Lucas’ recent essay on prediction of business cycles.
Lucas’ post is quite an odd defense of the mainstream economics gurus who were caught flat-footed. Here are some good excerpts:
Censorship, thy name is copyright
Interesting how 6400 videos of political clips can be pulled–by force of law–by youtube and people stand around grumbling but essentially granting the rights of youtube to pull the material and the rights of C-Span and others to insist that it be pulled.
Bernanke’s Apoplithorismosphobia
Bernanke, like most mainstream economists, has an irrational fear of deflation -- whether as falling prices or a contracting money supply. I have coined the term “apoplithorismosphobia” for this psychological malady.
