[Keynote Address to the Libertarian Party Convention, 1977] I am honored and delighted to be here, and particularly happy that the theme of this convention is Turning Point, 1777/1977. For one thing, it means that the Libertarian Party is, to my knowledge, the only organization in the country that realizes that the Bicentennial does not merely
The Problem of Land Theft A particularly important application of our theory of property titles is the case of landed property. For one thing, land is a fixed quotal portion of the earth, and therefore the ground land endures virtually permanently. Historical investigation of land titles therefore would have to go back much further than for other
If every man has the absolute right to his justly-held property it then follows that he has the right to keep that property—to defend it by violence against violent invasion. Absolute pacifists who also assert their belief in property rights—such as Mr. Robert LeFevre—are caught in an inescapable inner contradiction: for if a man owns property and
[First published in Left & Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought , 1967.] It was almost twenty years ago that I first met Frank Chodorov. It was at one of those luxurious but terribly dreary cocktail parties that have long served as rallying ground for the intelligentsia of the American right wing. There the more articulate of the rightists are
The Just Tax and the Just Price Costs of Collection, Convenience, and Certainty Distribution of the Tax Burden Uniformity of Treatment Equality Before the Law: Tax Exemption The Impossibility of Uniformity The “Ability-To-Pay” Principle The Ambiguity of the Concept The Justice of the Standard “Distribution of the Tax Burden,” continued Sacrifice
Economists have referred innumerable times to the “free market,” the social array of voluntary exchanges of goods and services. But despite this abundance of treatment, their analysis has slighted the deeper implications of free exchange. Thus, there has been general neglect of the fact that free exchange means exchange of titles of ownership to
[This foreword to Henry Hazlitt’s Failure of the New Economics ( available at mises.org free in PDF, ebook, and audiobook ) was first published in National Review , August 15, 1959.] For most people, economics has ever been the “dismal science,” to be passed over quickly for more amusing sport. And yet, a glance at the world today will show that
I. Basic Causes of the Revolution The historian must be more than a chronicler, a mere lister of events. For his real task is discovering and setting forth the causal connections between events in human history, the complex chain of human purposes, choices, and consequences over time that have shaped the fate of mankind. Investigating the causes
I. Introduction II. Pietism and Prohibition III. Women at War and at the Polls IV. Saving Our Boys from Alcohol and Vice V. The New Republic Collectivists VI. Economics in Service of the State: The Empiricism of Richard T. Ely VII. Economics in Service of the State: Government and Statistics Notes I. Introduction In contrast to older historians
This unsigned editorial, written by Murray N. Rothbard, appeared in the April 15, 1969 issue of The Libertarian (soon to become The Libertarian Forum ). April 15, that dread Income Tax day, is around again, and gives us a chance to ruminate on the nature of taxes and of the government itself. The first great lesson to learn about taxation is that
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.