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In his 1884 article “Mind as a Social Factor,” Lester F. Ward attacked the laissez-faire doctrine in an “inversion of values” that would have made Friedrich Nietzsche blush. “But how shall we distinguish,” Ward asked, this human, or anthropic, method from the method of nature? Simply by reversing all the definitions. Art is the antithesis of nature. If we call one the natural method we must call the other the artificial method. If nature’s process is rightly...

Karl Marx may have been a philosopher or just someone with an opinion. He was not, however, an economist. Original Article: "Karl Marx Was Not an Economist" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.  [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter

Political correctness in Western societies fosters polarization and a toxic culture of ignorance. Although people are rightly outraged by the cancellation of prominent figures, the most glaring consequence of political correctness is the proliferation of ignorance. When speakers are cancelled for contradicting sacrosanct opinions, this leads to an environment where people never arrive at the truth because ideas are not disputed in the public domain. This devolution...

CV Labs, the international ecosystem builder of blockchain venture capital firm CV VC, announced the fifth batch of its global blockchain business accelerator. Nine startups were selected from over sixty countries for the Batch_05 based on the impact and utility that their solution will bring. The CV Labs Accelerator provides each participant up to US$135,000 capital, access to other capital avenues, one-on-one mentorship, and customised growth hacks for blockchain...

Part II of II To be fair, it is true, this time is different. Indeed, this time the rescue plan for the bust banks is not comparable to what we saw in 2008. In the US, the guarantee for deposits up to $250.000 comes from funds that are maintained by participating banks and not from the taxpayer. The official answer to how they’re going to pay everyone back is also plausible and possible: Some, or even most, of the money can and will be recovered from...

Manuele Bertoli is State councillor of the Canton of Ticino in southern Switzerland. He's the only blind member of a cantonal government in the country. We met him in his office in Bellinzona just before his retirement from political life. How did he manage to have such a successful political career despite being blind? What is his vision of Swiss democracy and its instruments of direct democracy? “Direct democracy in Switzerland is not something that those in power use to confirm...

The Ralph Raico Memorial Commencement Lecture. Recorded at the 2023 Austrian Economics Research Conference hosted at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, March 16–18, 2023. [embedded content] The Austrian Economics Research Conference is the international, interdisciplinary meeting of the Austrian School, bringing together leading scholars doing research in this vibrant and influential intellectual tradition. The conference is hosted by the Mises...

Decolonization is a popular academic and media buzzword. But is colonialism actually responsible for poverty in developing countries? This question deserves an honest answer. Original Article: "Did Colonialism Impoverish Africa and Asia? Perhaps Not" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon.  [embedded content]...

As the war in Ukraine drags on into its second year, protest demonstrations have been taking place in major European cities. They express the growing sentiment that the people are tired of the protracted conflict and fearful of what could come should the war continue even longer. Memories of the catastrophic world wars that ravaged Europe in the first half of the last century and the terrible threat of nuclear annihilation that divided the continent in the second...

Throughout its history, liberalism—the ideology today called “classical liberalism” or “libertarianism”—has suffered from the impression that it is primarily against things. This is not entirely wrong. Historically, liberalism coalesced as a recognizable and coherent ideology in opposition largely to mercantilism and absolutism throughout Western Europe. Over time, this opposition extended to socialism, protectionism, imperialism, aggressive warfare, and slavery as...