World History

Slavery was a monstrously unfair and immoral institution. It was also inefficient, compared to a system based on free labor.

"Herein lies the key to changing society — changing public opinion or people's preferences toward government. And the only way people are likely to change their preferences is through education and persuasion; force is ineffective."

Austrian monetary thought can be traced back right to the very founding father of monetary economics, the great Nicholas Oresme, the 14th century Bishop of Lisieux.

Things might have been much worse were it not for the efforts of a relative handful of intellectuals who have fought against socialist theory for more than a century. Without them, it might have been 99% in support of socialist tyranny.

It was Ludwig von Mises who revealed the intimate connections between Austrian economics and authentic liberalism.

Anti-poverty programs pushed by social democrats have enabled ever higher levels of corruption as bigger government programs mean the ultra-rich can skim more off the top.

A return to such conditions could mean only the eradication of the bulk of today's population and complete impoverishment for those remaining.

By just glancing at Latin America’s current gun policies, we see a region that is in desperate need of more pro-gun laws. Countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Venezuela offer lurid accounts of what happens when most of the population is effectively disarmed when facing real criminal threats.

Mexican politicians are claiming Mexican nationals are unsafe in the US. Meanwhile, Mexico's homicide rate - fueled by strict gun-control laws -  has soared to five times that of the US.

Writing about the cultural background of Ludwig von Mises, an eminent former compatriot of mine, poses some difficulties: how to present you with a world radically different from yours, a world far away, which in many ways no longer exists.