Regardless of their relative merits, bribes are a phenomenon distinct from taxation and regulation. Examining where and to what extent illicit bribes exist sheds further light on the distinction between the private, voluntary economy, and the public, coercive one.
Obama says that the key to progress is good government. Not so. The real common thread to progress is free enterprise. Progress and prosperity have followed movement toward freer markets and secure property rights.
Austrians get a bum rap for their prescription for recession. The readjustment process is not cruel; it is about permitting production to align more closely with consumer preferences. Recovery, like growth and development, requires forward-looking planning.
Recorded at the Mises Circle in Colorado Springs, Colorado; 18 September 2010. Sponsored by Pikes Peak Economics Club.
In the last week there have been many interesting developments involving gold. The price of the yellow metal set a new record, breaking through the $1,300 barrier. A German firm is preparing to install gold-vending machines in the United States. There's more.
One does not need to be a Brookings Institute scholar— specializing in "oil dependence, electric vehicles, and climate change" — to see why no one will willingly purchase an all-electric car, much less the one million that President Obama wants on the nation's highways in five years.
F.A. Hayek, in a forgotten article from 1941, observes the tragedy that "men of science and engineers" may "frequently be found leading a movement which in effect merely serves to support the unholy alliance between the monopolistic organizations of capital and labor."
Richard Cantillon saw the essence of the business-cycle problem long ago. When the government's national bank inflates the money supply by increasing the supply of banknotes, he writes, it reduces the rate of interest and can increase the price of stocks. This is a corrupt process.
Thomas Mun set forth what would become the standard mercantilist line.
Thomas Mun set forth what would become the standard mercantilist line. He pointed out that there was nothing particularly evil about the East India Company trade. The company imported valuable drugs, spices, dyes, and cloth from the Indies, and it re-exported most of these products to other countries.
