Europe

In this lecture from the 2025 Mises Institute Supporters summit, Ryan looks at how the modern state is built on the rapid rise of taxation in recent centuries. 

If Hobbes is right about human nature, then he is wrong about the state as a solution. Ironically, his key arguments for the state are actually key reasons against it.

If Hobbes is right about human nature, then he is wrong about the state as a solution. Ironically, his key arguments for the state are actually key reasons against it.

In the wake of the bloody French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Germaine de Staël kept the ideas of freedom alive at her family chateau on Lake Geneva, meeting with luminaries such as Jean Baptiste Say and other great thinkers of that era.

Over the centuries, European governments have driven talented workers out of their countries. That unfortunate legacy continues as France is the latest nation facing a “brain drain.”

Stability has been earned. The next task is to convert it into structural strength.

Leftist Boston University historian Quinn Slobodian claims that Ludwig von Mises was a Nazi sympathizer who favored Hitler’s views on race and imperialism, while broadcaster Thom Hartmann makes similar assertions. Neither man is willing to admit the truth about Mises.

The Dutch Tulip Bulb Mania of the 1630s continues to fascinate, especially given the recent asset bubbles our economy has experienced. What caused this bubble is worth a second look.

The Renaissance period is seen as mostly positive by historians, but the sinister development of absolutism and the imperial state complicates the legacy of that time.

The Renaissance period is seen as mostly positive by historians, but the sinister development of absolutism and the imperial state complicates the legacy of that time.