Originally published May 29, 2016. Since Paul Samuelson defined the term some fifty odd years ago, public goods has entered the popular lexicon and become an established belief. From the simple technical definition as a good that is non-excludable and non-rivalrous, thus subject to free riders, and therefore can only be produced by government or
The latest exploits of Lance Armstrong in this year’s Tour de France provide a solid backdrop for discussions contrasting the economic ideas of the Austrian School and the adherents of Public Choice. Public Choice is predicated on the belief that individual preferences can be known and quantified. From this simplistic view of Thymology, the Public
This fall, school kids across the country will again be taught a chief doctrine in the civic religion: recycle, not only because you fear the police but also because you love the planet. They come home well prepared to be the enforcers of the creed against parents who might inadvertently drop a foil ball into the glass bin or overlook a plastic
Listen to the Audio Mises Wire version of this article. Ludwig von Mises : ”A free man must be able to endure it when his fellow men act and live otherwise than he considers proper. He must free himself from the habit, just as soon as something does not please him, of calling for the police.” Totalitarianism used to be the product of the Hitlers
Zoning is theft, pure and simple. In his fantastic introduction to the Austrian School, Economics for Real People , Gene Callahan correctly identifies eminent domain as a form of property theft, especially noting the use of government condemnation in order to secure rightfully owned property for commercial development. It is easy to see government
For generations, products have advertised themselves as “new and improved.” We are too quick to dismiss this phrase as a promotional boilerplate. The market really does generate unrelenting improvements in our living standards. Meanwhile, the public sector is forever promising to improve its services and products, but every attempt creates only
The vanity of pride hides the true reflected man. But every now and again an event will occur that straightens out the distortions and exposes one’s real identity. One such event happened to me at a meeting between officials of a local city and the school district I serve as a board member. Before the call to the table, as members of both
A new study suggests that private schools are not inherently better than public schools. Surprised? Enough people were such that the study, funded by the US Department of Education, has created a stir in the education arena, as well as in the national news . But I want to argue that the results are meaningless, and for reasons not having to do
[ This weekend: The Mises Institute in Manhattan!] Is your state’s economy in the doldrums? Does it need a kick start to get it humming again? The immediate and boring solution is reduced government regulations and tax cuts. But according to a new civic ethos, the long-term and innovative solution is mandatory, all-day kindergarten. That’s rights,
Market exchange is not based on the requirement that both parties appraise the goods about to be exchanged at equal value. Instead, market exchange is based on both parties benefiting from a two-way, unequal valuation of the goods to be exchanged. An example from my youth: During my high school years in the early 1980s, I had purchased a
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.