Brink Lindsey, Vice President for Research at the Cato Institute, argues that contemporary libertarianism has followed the siren song of “natural rights,” in a way that renders it unable to have a wide public appeal. In a recent article, “ The Poverty of Natural Rights Libertarianism ,” Lindsey writes: For the half-century or so of the modern
One of the most influential theories in contemporary political philosophy is “luck egalitarianism.” The late G.A. Cohen stated the position in this way, in his Rescuing Justice and Equality (Harvard, 2008): People with greater-than-average talents and abilities should not in justice receive more wealth and income than others, even if their work
Like his godfather — the legendary provost of Trinity College, John Pentland Mahaffy — Walter Starkie (1894–1976) was one of the great Irish conversationalists. When I met him in 1969, he bowled me over. I was then a senior at UCLA, writing a paper on British foreign policy in the Spanish Civil War. I interviewed Starkie, then in his early
Today is Hans Hoppe’s birthday. He is an outstanding libertarian theorist, in the tradition of Murray Rothbard, and his strikingly original work ranges widely over philosophy, history, and economics. He is a scholar of the highest integrity and courage, and all lovers of liberty are in his
[ Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America . By Nancy MacLean. Viking, 2017. Xxxii + 334 pages.] Nancy MacLean’s book was published only a short time ago, but already it has attracted considerable attention. She has uncovered, she tells us, a conspirator against the public interest. James M. Buchanan,
As I mentioned in an earlier article , Nancy MacLean’s Democracy in Chains has aroused controversy, in large part owing to her many inaccuracies and misleading remarks. I’d like in this note to call attention to a few more of these. She begins the book’s Prologue with a summary of an article by Alexander Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen, “The Public
In an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, May 20-21, 2017 under the pretentious title “ An Einstein for the Dismal Science ,” Eric Maskin made extravagant claims for the significance of Paul Samuelson. For Maskin, himself a Nobel laureate in economics, Samuelson was one of the three “most important creative economists of the 20 th
The economist David Henderson has called attention to an argument used by Milton Friedman to defend freedom. Henderson believes, in my view correctly, that the argument fails; and I would like here to examine it. Friedman’s argument was offered in an interview conducted in 1974 by Reason magazine. Friedman states the argument in this way: I think
If Genevieve Valentine has given us an accurate account , Nancy MacLean has written an incredibly bad book on libertarianism. The book is called Democracy in Chains , and according to Valentine, MacLean traces modern libertarianism to none other than James Buchanan, the founder of the Virginia school of economics. Buchanan, we learn, led a 60
[ Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable. By Jeffrey D. Sachs. Columbia University Press, 2017. Xx + 130 pages.] Jeffrey Sachs is no friend of the free market, and I am not known for favorable reviews. It was not to be expected, then, that I would like his new manifesto; and indeed I do not. But one excellent chapter
What is the Mises Institute?
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.