Mixed martial arts is a brutal, imperfect, occasionally ugly sport. But it’s also one of the most honest epistemic systems we have when dealing with self-defense, and each individual has the right to defend himself against aggressors.
Audio Mises Wire
Audio recordings of Mises Wire articles, offering contemporary news and opinion through the lens of Austrian economics and libertarian political economy.
When Cardinal Robert Prevost was named Pope, he took the name of Pope Leo XIV. Leo XIII authored Rerum Novarum, which is the basis for Catholic social teaching and is friendlier to private property and free markets than anything the Vatican has produced since then.
When the American Revolution broke out, the American colonies were perhaps the least-taxed place on earth. How did this country move from that position to the colossus it has become today? Joshua Mawhorter provides some sobering July 4 reading to find the answer.
Britain‘s Labour Party won an overwhelming victory at the last election, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already following the script of Labour when it was run by communists. Already, a large number of wealthy taxpayers have left the country for lower tax havens.
As housing prices have skyrocketed in Ireland, the government did what governments do all too often: impose rent controls. Such interventions into the housing market have created downstream effects that continue to encourage even more intervention.
Our media, higher education, and, of course, governments tell us that our social and economic problems are due to capitalism. Yet, what we see are governments bringing us inflation, chaos, and the horror of war. It's time we abandon the fiction that governments "serve the people."
Speaking at the recent Rothbard Graduate Seminar, Dr. Joseph Salerno traces Murray Rothbard‘s intellectual development while in the economics Ph.D. program at Columbia University. Rothbard was dissatisfied with the popular schools of thought until he discovered Austrian economics.
To better understand history, we must understand how people thought and acted in the context of their times and the prevailing worldviews of that era. Unfortunately, modern historians insist on looking at US History from modern collectivists viewpoints.
A recession is defined by negative economic activity over several months with an accompanying decline in GDP. However, given the actual makeup of GDP, it is inaccurate to directly tie recessions to GDP at all.
The government argues that restoring state control protects Mexico’s resources from foreign exploitation and ensures that profits benefit Mexican citizens. However, removing competition and transparency lead to inefficiencies, increased costs, and an unreliable energy supply.
Western Civilization has brought great advances in culture and economics, yet no one is more relentless in trying to destroy this civilization than western intellectuals. Ricardo Duchesne lays it out in his book, Greatness and Ruin.
Socialist mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has emerged as a serious challenger to Andrew Cuomo in the race for mayor of New York City. If Mamdani wins, he promises to vastly expand government control of housing and businesses there.
There has been much talk of disinflation, but all the evidence points toward the conclusion that the Federal Reserve continues to administer injections of monetary inflation.
Unfortunately, President Trump has severely damaged his credibility by embroiling us in a war that is not our war.
This summer, Hollywood is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its summer blockbuster “Jaws.” The making of such films provides a good analysis of how entrepreneurs operate in a world of uncertainty. Austrian economists are best able to understand how this process works.
Historically, slavery has always been held together by violence, including slavery in the US. However, the actual history of slavery here is much more complex than what modern academics want to admit.
Bolivians are finding out the hard way that socialist energy means price controls, and price controls mean fuel shortages and long gas station lines. Socialism excels in unkept promises and Bolivia is no exception to that rule.
Contrary to the expectation of the Luddites, we have only become wealthier than before and workers today enjoy much higher standards of living than workers in the past.
Unfortunately, the only real long-term solution to this is genuine fiscal austerity and debt repudiation.
No one seems concerned about the constant devaluation of the dollar. They blame high prices on whoever is president or corporate greed.
