Mises Wire

With their bizarre and extreme lockdowns, governments are forcing very low-risk populations to endure social isolation and unemployment. The mental health effects will be significant.

Money really does buy happiness—up to a point. But at all income levels, happiness is very, very subjective.

US government debt is spiraling upward, with debt-to-GDP rising to World War II levels. How long can this last?

Buyers and sellers in the free market do indeed act from self-interest, but Adam Smith never argued that this excludes friendly feelings for those they do business with.

The latest installment in the Understanding Money Mechanics series summarizes the theory of the business cycle originally published in 1912 by Ludwig von Mises and elaborated by Friedrich Hayek.

For many parents, the ongoing closure of public schools will just reinforce growing suspicions that public schools just aren't worth it anymore. Maybe they never were.

Governments create nothing, and only excel at coercion and violence. This is why governments are enthusiastic about shutting down economies but seem unsure about how to open them.

Media outlets, both left and right, are mostly narrative driven. Also, journalists have a tendency to lazily reprint whatever "experts" say. This makes media reporting thoroughly unreliable.

The COVID-19 panic has provided a myriad of opportunities for politicians to exploit the fear and pain of ordinary people for personal profit.

Crashes are fast, like that first hill on a coaster. Recoveries are not, for the simple reason that production is more difficult than destruction.