The Limits of Utilitarian Reasoning--The Case of Patents

It can of course be useful to point out harmful consequences of various policies, if only to engage advocates of same on their own turf. Thus in There’s No Such Thing as a Free Patent I point out that those who claim the benefits of patents outweigh the costs never seem to tally up these figures and give us the net. And indeed, whenever anyone ties to do this, they usually conclude that the patent system does more harm than good.

Is Capitalism Ruining Christmas?

Many Christians are seriously annoyed at the way the holiday season has changed. If you are among them, you are probably already annoyed at this article, because I didn’t say Christmas season. That a shift in the culture has taken place is beyond doubt. But the idea that there is some war going on is completely nuts. Commerce is bombing us with x-treme Christmas starting the day after Halloween!

Is There Such a Thing as Austrian Investing?

Equity markets have collapsed in value, bond yields are off, real-estate markets are (in many places) in a state of disarray, monetary devaluation through government inflation is a constant dilemma, bailouts occur weekly, and wars and rumors of wars seem to lurk in the distance. Investing of any sort is enough to make one’s stomach turn in times such as these. The hole in the backyard and that spot between the mattresses keeps looking better and better.

A Golden Way Out of the Monetary Fiasco

The government-controlled monetary regime — the most destructive force set into motion by state interventionism — has finally been blown to pieces. This is the message conveyed by the monetary fiasco in global capital markets, typically referred to as the international credit crisis. However, politicians and central bankers the world over are taking great efforts to hide this truth and its full consequences.

The Crisis in 10 Points

The financial crisis of 2007–2008 was a Ponzi scheme writ large. A Ponzi scheme, or chain letter, initially succeeds but eventually collapses, just as imprudent loans may at first succeed in their objectives but eventually the laws of economics come into play and expose the futility of the whole exercise.

Study Guide to Human Action

It has been a work years in the making, but finally the Study Guide to the Scholar’s Edition of Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action, is available. Once you realize that Mises has a definite plan for the book — it is certainly not a Joycean stream-of-consciousness riff — then its 881 pages are not as daunting. You realize with each chapter, “Yes, now I see why Mises couldn’t really get on to Important Topic X until he first dealt with the material he just covered.”

Access to Energy

I just discovered that the old issues of Access to Energy, the wonderful pro-nuclear, pro-science, pro-technology, pro-free enterprise newsletter formerly published by the late, great Dr. Petr Beckmann are online. Beckmann was a brilliant electrical engineering professor and libertarian who died of cancer in 1993 (see his poignant, “Goodbye, Dear Readers“).

 

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