Sadly, one of the most enthusiastic and generous supporters to the Mises Institute, Jerry Davis, has passed away. Before health issues slowed him, Jerry was a frequent caller to the Institute, providing inspiration, to talk about Austrian economics and liberty, or to order books to be sent to friends or just people he came in contact with. Jerry
In the era of franchised unisex stylers like Supercuts and Great Clips it’s hard to imagine that barbers and cosmetologists are fighting over who can have a barber pole advertising their shops. The latest legislative fights over the swirling red, white, and blue poles are in the states of Minnesota, Michigan and North Carolina. “The barber pole is
The New York Times reports of more financial woes for municipalities. Suffolk County will run $530 million into the red over the next three years and has declared a financial emergency. The New York state oversight board already seized financial control of Suffolk’s Long Island neighbor, Nassau County. Danny Hakim writes, Even as there are
Mises Institute adjunct scholar Terry Ridgway passed away on March 13th. Professor Ridgway taught economics at UNLV for 30 years. Although I never had Ridgway as an instructor, my thesis chairman Murray Rothbard suggested that I select Prof. Ridgway to be the third member of my committee from the economics department. Hans Hoppe was the second.
A number of things have served as money throughout history: shells, tobacco leaves, even cigarettes in POW camps and prisons. Now those operating in the urban drug trade are using Tide detergent as currency. Supermarkets and drug stores in some areas of the country can’t keep the detergent on the shelves. During a recent police raid on a drug
Back in 1997 Gregory Bresiger penned a piece for the Free Market tearing apart the notion of “socially responsible investing” (SRI). Managers focused on social issues instead of profits will perform poorly as resources are diverted to unproductive uses. Bresiger looked to close the argument with this seemingly absurd proposition: But SRI funds do
[ Currency Wars: The Making of the Next Global Crisis • By James Rickards • Portfolio, 2011 • 304 pages] The talk is all about jobs, jobs, jobs in Washington and on the campaign trail as the unemployment rate continues to be elevated and long-term unemployment is higher than ever. Since getting government out of the way isn’t an option, late last
Floyd Norris writes for the New York Times that it’s 1980 all over again. Discussion of gold has gone from nonexistent a decade ago to the question of whether its price is in bubble territory, and now a policy question in the Republican primary. Ron Paul has been stumping for a return to the gold standard for decades, and the populace has finally
Wall Street traders, like high-stakes poker players, are a different breed. The constant pressure, the appetite for risk, the ability to think and react in split seconds, all the while calculating odds in their heads that most can’t do with an HP12C. “These guys are a pretty weird bunch,” Dr. Paul Zak says. “They’re very rational and very
To the minds of most environmentalists, the ham-hand of government is needed to protect wildlife. Private property be damned — the government must step in, otherwise every species on the planet will be hunted into oblivion, or human development will gobble up all remaining wildlife habitat, leading to the complete extinction of all species.
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.