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In 1972, members of the newly created Libertarian Party wanted Murray Rothbard to be their candidate in the coming presidential run. During an interview, when asked about this possibility, Rothbard first had a long laugh. After laughing, he stated that he did not think that it was even the time to create a libertarian party, simply because there were not enough libertarians, but that if there was eventually a strong libertarian party, several things could be...

Many economic commentators believe increasing the quantity of money can revive an economy. This is based on the view that with more money in their pockets, people will spend more and others follow suit, as they hold that money is a mere means of payments.Money, however, is not the means of payments but rather a medium of exchange. It only enables one producer to exchange his product for the product of another producer. According to Murray Rothbard, “Money, per se,...

There are two forces that shape the investment climate: politics and economics, and they are both at the fore in the coming weeks.Among the highlights will be the European Central Bank meeting that will mostly likely begin its easing cycle. The Bank of Canada is a close call. If it does not cut rates in June, it will probably do so in July. The Swiss National Bank may deliver its second hike in the cycle, while the Bank of England will likely continue to prepare the...

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....

Trade school enrollment is on the rise. Many trade schools have seen as much as a 19.3 percent rise in enrollment over the last several years. This is good news given the labor shortages in areas like construction and auto mechanics.Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when I was in high school, it was unthinkable to not go to college. In my working-class neighborhood, a college education was viewed as a way out of poverty. Jobs in construction, welding, and the...

The BBC recently slapped a “trigger warning” on its popular 1969 series Civilisation, warning that viewers may deem the series objectionable as it presents Eurocentric perspectives. The series is now deemed to be “problematic” because it tells a “European story,” focusing on the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. This is criticized by academics—for example, the classicist Mary Beard—for excluding other cultures and also for excluding women while showcasing the...

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....

Read part I here.Milei and the Chances of PrivatizationThough privatizations have not yet arrived, the state-owned airline is on the agenda. The company was renationalized in 2008, forcing taxpayers to prop up an airline that has been directly bailed out by the government since 2021. For true privatization, all regulation prohibiting competition and all taxation in the industry should be abolished—falling short of this, it should come with deregulation and less...

Overpopulation has been a concern for a long time, sparking debates about humanity’s future, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation. The temptation to resort to centralized control measures is significant. However, a closer examination reveals two major problems with such an approach.The ethical problemThe violation of individual rights is the first issue. As Murray Rothbard explains in ‘The Ethics Of Liberty,’ individuals have an inherent right to own...

I heard a rumor the other day that Democrats are throwing the Presidential election. Party apparatchiks believe the stock market will crash, sinking the economy and they would rather have it all implode on Donald Trump’s watch, paving the way for having a Democrat in the White House from 2028 until eternity. This sort of conspiracy theory seemed spectacularly implausible until I read in the New York Times, that anti-Trump Republicans believe the Biden campaign is...