The Central Question

The current debate on Social Security privatization has crystallized what is the central question (among many questions) that supporters of economic liberty ought to be asking the Bush administration and its think-tank backers. It is this:

What Makes One an Economist?

In the comments on a recent blog post, people questioned my assertion that anyone calling him or herself an Austrian economist needs to read Rothbard’s treatise cover to cover. (To clarify, I was saying anyone who wants to be an Austrian economist...) This raises an interesting question: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions to be an Austrian economist? Does it take a Ph.D.? No, I don’t think so: Gene Callahan doesn’t have a Ph.D. in economics, and he wrote the book (well, a book) on Austrian economics. To switch schools, David Friedman has a Ph.D.

Prediction concerning Social Security Reform

“Think of the farm bill. Think of the Medicare drug benefit. Think of the steel tariff. Now expand that to the size of Social Security...” So says a former Council of Economic Advisers staffer to Brad DeLong on the likely shape of a Social Security reform bill. We could go on: think of the Iraq War, think of the Transportation Safety Administration, think of the Department of Homeland Security, think of the Patriot Act, think of No Child Left Behind, think of...

New Outsourcing Threat

CNBC reports: “One woman believes that companies can send jobs to rural areas and save just as much as they could sending them to places like India.” An entrepreneur has created Rural Sourcing, an information technology contracting company that aims to compete with India-based outsourcing firms. What would Paul Craig Roberts have to say?

Mises on Keynes (1927)

“He who rejoices that peoples are turning away from liberalism, should not forget that war and revolution, misery and unemployment for the masses, tyranny and dictatorship are not accidental companions, but are necessary results of the antiliberalism that now rules the world.” —Ludwig von Mises

Future of Freedom Fund

I recalled recently an utterly fascinating legal squabble I read about when I lived in Philadelphia. Could such a thing be used by far-thinking libertarians to set up a future freedom advocacy foundation, or even a libertarian country? This concerns the infamous Holdeen Trusts (link 2), and a series of cases and legal disputes centered around same.

Ludwig von Mises: A Scholar Who Would Not Compromise

There are learned people, even students of economics, who know little or nothing about Ludwig von Mises. And there are those who have erroneous or distorted knowledge of him, acquired from superficial hearsay or from the teaching of unfriendly critics; there has been no scarcity of critics of this erudite, highly original, and uncompromising opponent of socialism and government intervention in all forms. Finally, there are admirers of Mises, faithful disciples and propagators of his teaching.

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