The second edition of the fun and fascinating guide to the main ideas of the Austrian School of economics, written in sparkling prose especially for the non-economist. Gene Callahan shows that good economics isn’t about government planning or statistical models. It’s about human beings and the choices they make in the real world. This may be the
The Blue Eagle on the cover was the symbol that FDR demanded that all businesses display as a sign of adherence to wage and price controls. To Garrett, this summed up the whole of the New Deal: a catastrophic regimentation of national life that attacked freedom and did nothing to cure the depression. Garrett was the leading opponent of the New
Among the most advanced topics in the literature in the Austro-libertarian milieu is that which deals with the workings of the fully free society, that is, the society with no state, or anarcho-capitalism. Robert Murphy deals with this head on, and makes the first full contribution to this literature in the new century. Working within a
The master teacher of American economic history covers money and banking in the whole of American history, to show that the meltdown of our times is hardly the first. And guess what caused them in the past? Paper money, loose credit, reckless lending standards, government profligacy, and central banking When will we learn? When people understand
At the Austrian Scholars’ Conference and again at Mises University, a number of people asked me what it takes to get into and succeed in a graduate program in economics. I hereby offer the following nuggets of wisdom to the aspiring economics graduate student. To begin, I’ll recount my own experience and mistakes in order to provide context for
It has been interesting to read reactions to the recent speech ( Deflation: Making Sure “It” Doesn’t Happen Here ) given by Fed Governor Ben S. Bernanke before the National Economists Club in Washington, D.C., on November 21, 2002. Most commentators have focused, with merit, on Bernanke’s alarmingly sanguine approach to monetary inflation as a
“If the protectionists had the power to give legal effect to their convictions, they would reduce all men to the snail’s life of utter isolation.” --Frederic Bastiat Count the term “free trade” as another casualty of political rhetoric and chicanery. Free trade no longer seems to mean what the words appear to strongly imply--which is a kind of
Enron is probably still too new to draw final conclusions about what it all means. There is still too much of the tale yet to be told. Like drinking a wine that has not yet been properly aged, we risk missing the full range of flavor by rushing to pass judgment on the Enron debacle. Over time, our view of this event may be quite different from
One change in the fabric of American finance that is particularly striking over the years is the proliferation of credit and the growth of nonbank financing. The primary creditors of the nation’s debtors are not banks, but are so-called nontraditional lenders--such as GE Capital, the financial services arm of General Electric (which,
“ Of all men’s miseries the bitterest is this: to know so much and to have control over nothing .” —Herodotus The ancient Greeks would have appreciated the current economic problems in America. With their affinity for tragedy, the Greeks would surely have marveled at the mysteries of the business cycle, particularly the destructive power of the
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.