In my previous article, “Mises on Mind and Method,” I organized Ludwig von Mises’s epistemological doctrines, drawing from several of his works, into a single exposition. In the present article, I do the same with Mises’s teachings on the most fundamental praxeological insights. Those insights are threaded throughout Mises’s great work, Human
Science is not predestined for perpetual progress. In the history of every science, there have been periods of progress, often triggered by a “Copernican revolution” that suddenly reorients the science into a forward march. But there have also been periods of retrogression, often triggered by a “Keynesian revolution” that sends the science
Scott Patterson, reporter for the Wall Street Journal and author of The Quants (2010), tells the story of traders and financial engineers who used brain-twisting math and superpowered computers to pluck billions in fleeting dollars out of the market. Instead of looking at individual companies and their performance, management and competitors, they
I recently purchased the new model of Barnes and Noble’s Nook eReader. (I reviewed the older Nook here and here .) It is a very new gadget, but it is now filled, almost exclusively, with very old books. A recent article in the New York Times argued that the tea-party movement is, to some extent, inspired by “long-ago texts” and “long-dormant
Introduction Value Derivation Savings and Capital Goods The Law of Returns Introduction According to the Austrian business-cycle theory , monetary expansion leads to artificially low interest rates, which lead producers to act as if consumers wanted to save more than they really do. Thus, businesses overdedicate resources to longer chains of
Robinson Crusoe and Friday are face-to-face on a desert island. How do they interact? Perhaps Friday will hurl a spear at Crusoe. Perhaps Crusoe will clap irons on Friday and enslave him. Perhaps Crusoe will declare that they both own in common all goods that each of them ever comes across or produces on the island, no matter what. None of these
In ancient Greek mythology, Eris, the goddess of strife, was often a villain. It was her scheming that led to the Trojan War, which, as Homer said, made “many a hero prey to dogs and vultures.” [1] In ancient Rome, Concordia, goddess of social harmony, was one of the most dearly loved deities. Often the Romans would dedicate a new shrine to her
“Believe it or not, there are a few things worse than the state.” While browsing the blogosphere, Mises.org readers may have come across self-styled “left-libertarians.” You may even consider yourself something of a left-libertarian. Some of these folk, like the philosopher Roderick Long, have some very sound ideas, and many deep insights. There
[David Gordon and Daniel Sanchez will be teaching Libertarian Ethics , an online course starting October 27.] In Thucydides’s History of the Peloponnesian War , the rhetorical orations of ancient Greek statesmen often alternated between appealing to honor and to interest: to justice and to expediency. [1] Similarly, modern classical liberals
“The only fully Misesian economists are Rothbardians, and most Rothbardians have abandoned Mises’s entire approach to the ‘why’ of liberalism.” Students of classic liberalism and Austrian economics might come across a curious inconsistency concerning the doctrine of utilitarianism in Austro-liberal literature. On one hand, you may find vigorous
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.