Douglas E. French

Articles

Trump’s Tariffs Run the Whiskey River Dry

12/29/2025 Power & Market Douglas E. French

Jim Beam has been making whiskey for a long time, through thick and thin. But the Trump tariffs have shut down the venerable distillery.

Trump Goes Hoover

12/15/2025 Power & Market Douglas E. French

On the economy, Trump gives himself a grade of “A+++++,” which is reminiscent of Hoover and other politicians who interpreted their economic failures as successes.

California Thievin’

11/26/2025 Power & Market Douglas E. French

As usual, California policy may encourage productive residents to leave. Nevada may be freer relative to California, but it’s a low bar.

Publications

Walk Away: The Rise and Fall of the Home-Ownership Myth

11/18/2010 Douglas E. French

Housing, a central priority for government policy for many decades, collapsed in 2008; even today, millions of homes are under water. This poses many economic and ethical issues. This elegant and fact-filled book by Doug French examines the

Early Speculative Bubbles and Increases in the Supply of Money

08/19/1992 Douglas E. French

The Housing Bubble was hardly the first in human history. What’s eluded historians is the same issue that eludes commentators today: the underlying cause of bubbles. This book is the first (and only) book to solve the mystery of the most famous

Media

Tariffs Destroy Consumer Choice

07/07/2025 Douglas E. French

Although President Trump has claimed that tariffs will ultimately raise our standard of living, they really are taxes on consumers. Furthermore, tariffs also deny consumers the choices they want to make.

Silver Price Shows What Government Has Done to Our Money

06/25/2025 Douglas E. French

No one seems concerned about the constant devaluation of the dollar. They blame high prices on whoever is president or corporate greed.

Entrepreneurship Can’t Be Taught in a College Classroom

06/21/2025 Douglas E. French

College professors have suddenly discovered entrepreneurship and are teaching about it in their classes. However, while it is an interesting subject, one cannot teach someone how to be a successful entrepreneur.

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.