There are those to whom the question of whether to privatize the nation’s police forces is mere academic whimsy—a question of consequence only to the eggheads and cranks of the Academy, not to those who so solidly inhabit the “real world.” Most of these believe the enforcement of law to be the exclusive province of the state. Such a belief is
The recent widely cited National Agricultural Lands Study (NALS) adds to the growing number of individuals and organizations holding the view that land resources are too important to be left to the “whims of market forces.” In this view, there should be a shift from private ownership of land to social or political control of land use. Volume 7,
Robert Nozick, in Anarchy, State, and Utopia presented his by-now-famous view that “a minimal state, limited to the narrow functions of protection against force, theft, fraud, enforcement of contracts, and so on, is justified.” He went on to say that only such a state is justified. Since then, the view has been frequently presented that a more
In recent years, as libertarian policy analysts have put their minds to the question of tax reform, some have succumbed to the lure of a broad-based, proportional, or flat, income tax. Under these proposals, the current progressive multirate structure would be replaced by a single rate that would apply to all taxpayers. Moreover, all forms of
A characteristic feature of modern civilization is the steady growth of government.1 This government growth occurs under two forms: either through a more intense taxation of its present subjects, or through bringing more people under its control. In other terms, government growth can either be an “intensification” or an “extensification” of
Volume 12, Number 1 (1996) Prohibition, I venture to say, was the last thing in the world the American people expected to have come upon them. “It can never happen” might be our national slogan. Let us wake up, and face conditions as they are.” Like the Prohibition generation of the 1920s, Americans today seem unaware of their long history of
David Beito did a great service for the scholarship of liberty and American history with his rediscovery of the Great Depression-era tax resistance movement. He uncovered evidence of widespread opposition to property taxes across America. However, the anti-tax rebellion declined as quickly as it started, a demise that he attributes to a lack of a
In this article James Rolph Edwards discusses the United States economic system and social security. Volume 17, Number 1 (2003) Edwards, James R. “Economics, Politics, and the Coming Collapse of the Elderly Welfare State.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 17, No. 1 (2003):
In this article, Laurence M. Vance offers a review of John Merrifield’s School Choices: True and False . Volume 17, Number 2 (2003) Vance, Laurence M.. “Book Review: John Merrifield, School Choices: True and False .” Journal of Libertarian Studies 17, No. 2 (2003):
In this article, Laurence M. Vance reviews Clint Bolick’s Voucher Wars: Waging The Legal Battle Over School Choice . Volume 18, Number 2 (2004) Vance, Laurence M. “Book Review: Voucher Wars: Waging the Legal Battle over School Choice by Clint Bolick.” Journal of Libertarian Studies 18, No. 2 (2004):
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.