Free Markets

Recorded at Mises University 2005.

Can free enterprise be the sole provider of law and justice? Robert Murphy, author of Chaos Theory, writes that the idea is often dismissed out of hand.

Block, Gwartney and Lawson at Frazier Institute of Canada created an annual index of Economic Freedom of the World. It has been more widely used than any other reports. 102 countries were ranked according to factors like life expectancies or income equality.

Free trade is "I give you something; you give me something in return". Trade rights are part of property rights. Nosick calls trade a capitalist act between consenting adults. If you trade, you won't fight. It becomes harder to have wars. Trade benefits all parties.

Sean Corrigan notes several cases when believing in myth and fallacy qualifies you to manage editorial pages and purport to administer whole nations.

In this February 1957 memo, Rothbard sets down some thoughts on the Aristotelian background of marginal utility and Austrian economic theory.

The latest exploits of Lance Armstrong in this year's Tour de France, writes Jim Fedako, provide a solid backdrop for discussions contrasting the economic ideas of the Austrian School and the adherents of Public Choice.

A common objection to a purely free society is that it would quickly degenerate into constant battles between private warlords. Robert Murphy takes on that objection and argues that freedom can't fully suppress warlordism but it can make it costly.

The percentage of the labor force controlled by unions tends progressively to decline, writes George Reisman. Where the unions hold sway, companies cannot compete.

Timothy Roth is neither an Austrian economist nor an advocate of libertarian natural rights. For those of us who accept these positions, though, his book performs a great service.