If Science Is a Public Good, Let China Pay for It

04/28/2026 Thiago V. S. Coelho

While there is a public uproar about China having access to the work of American scientists, there is a bigger issue at stake: Is science “owned” by “the public”? If not, why are we so worried about the Chinese?

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/if-science-public-good-let-china-pay-it

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.