M.A. in economics in Spain
The Universidad Rey Juan Carlos now offers a Masters degree in economics, under Jesus Huerta de Soto, with a focus on the Austrian School. More here.
The Statue of Liberty Stands Tall
Brian Doherty writes in The New York Sun: New York City is the celebrated center for many vital aspects of American culture: publishing, finance, and the arts. It rarely has been credited, however, as a cutting-edge leader in political ideologies.
Impression, Not Reality, Is What Really Matters?
John Updike on the Great Depression:
Is all truth in Bastiat?
I was thumbing through our new edition of The Law and loving it, of course, especially this passage:
Sennholz the Great
Some excellent material, including images, at GCC.edu.
A Market for Criminal Skills
We’ve all suspected that the market economy has a civilizing effect on people, but I’ve rarely seen such a poignant example.
Here I was returning a rental car to the dealer, and some confusion set in about the keys. The attendant asked for them back, and I handed them over even as I was pulling bags and things out of the car. The attendant hopped in the driver’s seat to check the mileage, and left the keys in the car. He shut the door, I shut another, even as one more bag remained insider. But there was a hitch: the car was now locked.
Eat Meat, Grow Strong
The market for tools, the market for meat: both were essential in evolutionary advance.
The Myth of the Platform Company
Are we in a brave new world in which countries with developed financial markets produce nothing, have no physical capital, run permanent trade deficits, and pay for it all with perpetually over-valued financial assets? Yes indeed, according to Charles Gave, Louis Gave, and Anatole Kaletsky, as told in their book Our Brave New World. Austrian economics gives us reason to doubt their case, writes Robert Blumen. Permanent economic profits cannot be realized by a model. It takes superior entrepreneurial judgment to apply the right model at the right time.
Marginal Utility and Interest Formation
What is interest? Frank Shostak writes that its existence is part of the structure of reality: we live in a world in which time is scarce. The law of marginal utility is not only instrumental in establishing the prices of present goods but also in establishing the rate of exchange between present and future goods. The essence of the phenomenon of interest is the cost that a lender or an investor endures, the value of which is the least important end adjusted for the time factor that the lender or investor must give up in order to secure benefits from future goods.
Fannie Mae: Another New Deal Monstrosity
The shortcomings of Fannie Mae have been overlooked on the basis that Fannie plays a critical role in driving the housing sector, and thus the American economy.
