What is the Mises Institute?

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard. Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

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In the broad liberty movement, within its niche subcommunities, it’s almost inevitable that you’ll encounter infighting, especially when debates arise about using political means to achieve liberty. These discussions tend to flare up online around election season, as the topic of voting becomes more prominent in the public discourse. Generally, two camps emerge in these debates: what we might call the “purist” camp and the “practical” camp. By highlighting the often-overlooked nuances within these arguments, we can step back and see the bigger picture—understanding how liberty-minded individuals can make informed voting choices that align with their principles.The “Purists”Let’s begin by examining the purist camp. When the topic of voting or political engagement

The recurring cycle of economic booms followed by inevitable busts has remained a puzzle for generations of observers. While mainstream Keynesian and monetarist theories propose monetary interventions to smooth these fluctuations, the Austrian School offers a compelling and alternative perspective. Austrian business cycle theory provides a profound understanding of how artificially inflated booms sow the seeds of their own destruction. Delving into the depth of this theory illuminates the inherently unsustainable nature of economic upswings driven by the availability of cheap credit and inflation.
The Core of the Theory: Artificial Booms Lead to Busts
The Austrian business cycle theory argues that efforts to artificially suppress interest rates below natural

The threat of hyperinflation has haunted fiat money economies throughout history. Although past empires crumbled under the weight of unrestrained money printing, modern bankers at the Federal Reserve assure us that today’s financial system is immune to such a fate. Austrian business cycle theory, however, reveals that current economic stimulation may be propelling us toward a crisis of catastrophic proportions: a crack-up boom that marks the dramatic end of this boom-and-bust cycle. When a central bank expands the money supply to reinflate bubbles, it destroys the currency’s purchasing power. This endgame, in which the monetary system crumbles beneath a weak economy, represents the ultimate failure of interventionism. Once the public expects prices to keep rising,

To progressive elites, the state (at least one run by progressives) is omniscient and all-powerful. To anyone with understanding, the state is an entity usually run by gangsters.

Original Article: The State as Modern-Day Superstition: Unraveling the Illusions of Authority

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It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a “dismal science.” But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.
—Murray Rothbard, “The Death Wish of the Anarcho-Communists”
The Austrian school of economics stands as a beacon, illuminating the path to economic understanding through a perspective that diverges markedly from the methodologies of controlled experimentation and empirical observation that define the natural sciences. Instead, Austrian economics lays bare the timeless truths of economic phenomena through the art of deductive reasoning, drawing its power from self-evident axioms that

The open protocols on the internet would seem to create chaos, but it turns out that they produce the opposite results, encouraging a digital spontaneous order.

Original Article: "Breaking Free: How Open Protocols Foster Entrepreneurship, Spontaneous Order, and Individual Sovereignty"

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In the dynamic and ever-evolving digital landscape, open protocols have emerged as a powerful force, challenging closed-source models and reshaping industries. Beyond their technical merits, open protocols embody fundamental economic principles that foster innovation, competition, decentralized decision-making, and even censorship resistance. By embracing open protocols, societies can harness the creative energies of individuals and entrepreneurs, empowering them to discover, create, communicate freely, and resist censorship in the digital age.
Spontaneous Order and the Market Process
At the core of open protocols lies the principle of spontaneous order, enabling decentralized decision-making and voluntary interactions among individuals and businesses. Unlike

Economic exchange stands as the defining essence of any economy, epitomizing the intricate web of interconnected transactions that shape its very existence. In essence, an economy derives its essence from the culmination of individual exchanges. However, the profound impact of the crucial distinction between voluntary choice and coercion often goes unnoticed by many outside the realm of economic study. In this article, we delve deeper into the dynamics of economic exchange, shining a light on the transformative power of voluntary exchanges and the far-reaching repercussions of coercion on societal well-being.
Economic exchange operates along a spectrum, with voluntary choice on one end and coercion on the other. Voluntary exchanges occur when individuals willingly

The recognition of the insuperable limits to his knowledge ought indeed to teach the student of society a lesson in humility which should guard him against becoming an accomplice in men’s fatal striving to control society—a striving which makes him not only a tyrant over his fellows, but which may well make him the destroyer of a civilization which no brain has designed but which has grown from the free efforts of millions of individuals.
—Friedrich A. Hayek, “The Pretense of Knowledge”
Friedrich Hayek’s theory of spontaneous order has long been regarded as a cornerstone of classical liberalism within Austrian economic thought. It delves into the intricate tapestry of human action, emphasizing the limitations of individuals—driven by their unique knowledge and