SNB & CHF

Please help us in our fight to save freedom in America—and indeed the rest of the world—by making as generous a donation as you can. I became a student of Austrian economics and libertarian philosophy by accident. In my first semester in college in 1972, I signed up for Principles of Microeconomics. In the classroom was a bookshelf that happened to have all the back issues of The Freeman published by the Foundation for Economic Education. I started reading some of...

On the final Radio Rothbard of 2023, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Patrick Newman. At a recent Mises event, Newman made some bold predictions about the Federal Reserve's actions in 2024, some of which already look to becoming true. The three talk about what may be on the table for the new year for the economy, politics, and foreign affairs. "Are We Headed for a Recession in 2024?" by Patrick Newman: Mises.org/RR_166_A Claim your free...

[This article is chapter 5 of Breaking Away: The Case for Secession, Radical Decentralization, and Smaller Polities. Now available at Amazon and in the Mises Store.] One of the most consistent and enthusiastic defenders of human rights and “natural rights” in the twentieth century was the economist and historian Murray Rothbard. A self-described libertarian, Rothbard would also have fit in well among the more radical liberals of the nineteenth century such as the...

When Murray Rothbard established a realignment in libertarian thought, his standard was determined by sovereignty rather than bipartisanship. A right-wing populist platform might be the most popular campaign strategy in the last few years. Since Brexit, a trend has swept a wide range of the globe. The question remains what this political revolution should be called. If it were a daring step away from the establishment, spectators might be concerned as to why so many...

Frédéric Bastiat is justifiably famous among believers in liberty. His many classic contributions include The Law and his essays “Government” and “That Which Is Seen and That Which Is Not Seen,” not to mention some of the best reductio ad absurdum arguments ever (such as “The Candlemakers’ Petition” and “The Negative Railway”) and more. Less well known are other essays, such as his election manifesto of 1846, which illustrated what a principled politician who...

According to modern portfolio theory (MPT), financial asset prices always fully reflect all available and relevant information, and any adjustment to new information is virtually instantaneous. Thus, asset prices respond only to the unexpected part of information since the expected portion is already embedded in prices. For example, if the central bank raises interest rates by 0.5 percent, and if market participants anticipated this action, asset prices will reflect...

Last week, a video clip of Francis Fukuyama went viral. In the clip, the political scientist called freedom of speech and a marketplace of ideas “18th century notions that really have been belied (or shown to be false) by a lot of what’s happened in recent decades.” Fukuyama then reflects on how a censorship regime could be enacted in the United States. But the question then becomes, how do you actually regulate content that you think is noxious, harmful, and the...

A Swiss banker has pleaded guilty to tax offences in the United States. Between 2008 and 2014, he allegedly helped wealthy US clients hide their assets from the US authorities in accounts at Zurich-based Ihag Privatbank. Share Facebook Twitter E-mail Print Copy link The former head of the Zurich-based Allied Finance Trust, a subsidiary of the Liechtenstein-based Allied Finance Group, and his “co-conspirators” transferred more than $60 million (CHF51.4 million)...

Outside of the pandemic defined as 2020 and 2021, this past quarter was the 5th best quarter for nominal GDP in the last 25 years. It was the best real growth quarter since Q2 and Q3 of 2014. The last 12 months has been  mostly about services, here are the biggest contributors to YoY GDP: Consumption of Services Consumption of Goods Lower imports Government Non-residential investment in structures Intellectual property Q2 to Q3, we saw an acceleration in goods...

Tis was a poor number. The headline dropped from -5.9 to -10.5. The more eye popping number was the Index for New Orders which dropped from 1.3 to -25.6. I hate to say it, the diffusion index for new orders has never gone below 21 without an accompanying recession; that is until 2023. This is the 4th reading in the last 13 months below 21. These regional manufacturing surveys have been relatively poor since the middle of 2022. To date, it hasn’t mattered. Its as if...