With social issues defining more and more political campaigns, Rothbard’s pitch for the GOP became a relevant playbook for future candidates. If the motto “Culture is downstream from law,” has taught us anything, it’s that the relationship between legislation and behavior has been consistent. Murray Rothbard was hesitant to place pornography as a viable subject for private property rights.

Javier Milei is leading the polls as a precandidate for the 2023 presidential election in Argentina.

Let that sink in: Javier Milei, a libertarian economist, whose views in the past 10 years have shifted towards Austrian economics and anarcho-capitalism, a social media viral sensation, and for the last year, a congressman in the Argentinian Chamber of Deputies, elected as part of a conservative-libertarian coalition, is leading the polls as a precandidate for next year´s presidential election in his country, meaning he could potentially become its next president.

Under any remotely sound money regime the aftermath of war and/or pandemic is highly likely to feature a sharp decline in the prices of goods and services on average. Even under unsound money regimes there are powerful forces operating towards lower prices once the war/pandemic recedes. Strong injections of monetary inflation, however, can overpower them.

Economists are often examining the variables that lead to prosperity, but surprisingly, intelligence is rarely featured in this literature, despite its high replicability in research. Intelligence is a robust predictor of well-being, job performance, and other social outcomes.

James Fenske is a Professor of Economics at the University of Warwick and is highly regarded for his innovative studies charting the economic history of developing countries. His work has been featured in reputable outlets such as the Journal of Development Economics, Economic History of Developing Regions, and the Review of Economics of the Household.