Biographies

In this year of Millennium Lists ("Best Ten Songs of the Millennium," etc.), the Wall Street Journal tried its hand at the ten economists--whom it called the "best and brightest"--who have "made a difference" in the last thousand years. Of course, the big problem in twentieth-century intellectual history is that the "best and the brightest" were not the ones who "made a difference." While the list did contain some names to cheer (Aquinas, Hayek, and Schumpeter) it also had plenty to boo (Marx, Keynes, and Veblen).

In 1949, freedom had no future.

The place of Human Action in the life of a student. (A speech by Shawn Ritenour)

The perils of Social Security reform.

The most influential economists are not always the best.

How Mises's Human Action came to be written.

The usual praise heaped on Roosevelt is undeserved. 

The phrase of the day is "moral hazard." It's something everyone seems to think is a bad thing, but few are willing to do anything about, certainly not Alan Greenspan. So far, he's on record backing the Mexican bailout, the Asian bailout, the bailout of Long-Term Capital Management, and more IMF funding, despite the financial dangers all these create down the line.

Two freedom advocates square off on school vouchers.

Röpke's censored treatise foreshadowed Human Action.