In the history of the social sciences, no other field of study has attracted so great a level of hostility as the science of economics. Since the inception of the science, the onslaught against it has been on the rise, extending across individuals and groups. And the outlook for a favorable reception of the science is bleak, given that a significant number of people are incapable of following through the extended chains of reasoning required for comprehending economic arguments.Economics takes ends and goals of action as a given and—in matters of value judgments—it assumes neutrality (i.e., non-normativity), which is characteristic of a science. However, questions of suitability of means and various policies adopted to attain chosen ends are not beyond the scope

Within the social order, characterized by the division of labor and private ownership of the means of production, there exists instances of human action—purposeful behavior—whose origins consist in the motive and choice to attain one’s ends. In entrepreneurial endeavors this entails outperforming fellow participants in serving consumers. Acting man in his entrepreneurial capacity, striving to expand the boundaries of attractive opportunities available to consumers in the market, much more than his competitors. This could be in the form of differentiated products of better quality, lower prices, or a combination of both.We find a readiness to outperform behaviorally, concretized in the dispositions of certain market participants, namely, an ongoing entrepreneurial

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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While organized labor across Nigeria is currently jubilant over their recent win in obtaining a minimum wage increase by fiat, every student of praxeology in Nigeria receives this news with mixed feelings and the utmost reservation, because we are cognizant of the outcomes which inevitably follow from such interventions in the free market.Earlier in May 2024, organized labor (in both public and private sector)—under the auspices of the Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), after putting together some numbers they considered personal living expenses of the Nigerian worker—embarked on a series of nationwide strikes and public agitations in a bid to get a minimum wage increase from the previous N33,000 to N615,000. Mr. Joe Ajero, the President

Every year, thousands of Nigerian youths who are below the age of thirty and who’ve completed their undergraduate studies—whether in Nigeria or abroad—are compelled by law to give up one year of their working time in active duty to the country under the auspices of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), an agency of the government.It has now been fifty years since the establishment of the NYSC mandatory program under Decree No. 24 of May 22, 1973 by the then–military regime led by General Yakubu Gowon (retired). Among other stated social objectives of the NYSC as written in the decree is “to raise the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by giving them the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievements, social and cultural improvements.” Whether