The Saddest and Most Challenging (and possibly wrong) book by Wilhelm Roepke
I find myself captivated by this new entry into the Austrian Study Guide: a very rare treatise indeed. It is International Economic Disintegration by Wilhelm Roepke, from 1942. He explains how the world unraveled the 1930s from a combination of protectionism and monetary destruction. But he can’t get very far with this analysis without relating what seems to be an epiphany for him: there are non-economic reasons the world collapsed. The rise of nationalism frightens him.
Can Dikes Be Private? An Argument against Public Goods Theory
The best that mankind ever knew:
Freedom and life are earned by those alone
Who conquer them each day anew.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe1
The Future of the European Union
It is said that the union is founded on the following principle: free movement of goods, services, labor and capital — with a common vision of achieving a single market. In this article, Yumi Kim argues that the common vision, wrongly implemented, is hindering the progress of Europe. Instead of truly fostering free trade, EU regulations and directives hold back those who endeavor to progress; indeed such efforts are frowned upon. It is one thing to devise policies founded on egalitarianism but quite another to implement them as if they are based on the ideas of free exchange.
Economics and the Revolt against Reason
The Revolt Against Reason
It is true that some philosophers were ready to overrate the power of human reason. They believed that man can discover by ratiocination the final causes of cosmic events, the inherent ends the prime mover aims at in creating the universe and determining the course of its evolution. They expatiated on the “Absolute” as if it were their pocket watch. They did not shrink from announcing eternal absolute values and from establishing moral codes unconditionally binding on all men.
Radical Disillusionment
Emma Goldman, a young shopkeeper in 1892, was serving a customer in her ice cream parlor in Worcester, Mass., when she got the latest news about a labor strike in Pittsburgh.
Does Rawlsian Justice Require Anarchy?
In A Theory of Justice, John Rawls develops principles that must be adopted as the framework for a just society. Louis Carabini asks: What is the structure of a society in which there exists the most extensive basic liberty that is equal to all members and where all social and economic activity is arranged to the benefit of the least advantaged? The only society that meets all these criteria and thus qualifies as a Rawlsian just society is anarchy.
Ma Kettle and Bugs Bunny in China
Seems the Communist Chinese have a better grasp of the sanctity of property rights than many US municipalities. The International Herald Tribune is reporting that Ma Kettle of Chongqing, China, actually beat city hall.
Copyright and Patent Silliness (Cablevision and Microsoft)
Cablevision Loses Network DVR Court Case reports that Cablevision has lost a legal battle against several Hollywood studios and television networks to introduce a network-based digital video recorder service to its subscribers. Many cable subscribers now use in-home set-top DVRs. “Cablevision had hoped a network-based DVR system, called Remote Storage DVR or RS-DVR, would have done away with the need for the installation of hundreds of thousands of digital set-top boxes in subscribers’ homes.
Success without the State
A very nice pro-market commentary by Richard W. Rahn came out in today’s Washington Times praising The Science of Success, a book covering “Charles Koch, who, along with his brother, David, built this massive and very successful enterprise -- which includes petroleum refining, chemicals, fibers and carpets, fertilizers, building materials, paper products and financial services, etc.”
More from the commentary:
