A bedrock of Austrian economic thinking is the notion of causality. A libertarian worldview also requires the understanding of causality. Original Article: Libertarianism and the Importance of Understanding Causality [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
Read More »A Rising Stock Market Does Not Drive Economic Growth
Many people believe that a general increase in stock prices is an important factor in economic growth. However, this is a questionable observation. The view that the stock market drives economic growth originates from the observation that changes in stock prices precede changes in economic data. We suggest that various economic indicators are heavily influenced by money supply, which also drives stock prices. The price of something is the amount of money asked for...
Read More »Preserving the Statist Quo: Creating a Generation of Welfare-ing, Libertine Narcissists
Not only is Washington in political turmoil, but the policies emanating from the Beltway are more incoherent than ever. Original Article: Preserving the Statist Quo: Creating a Generation of Welfare-ing, Libertine Narcissists [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
Read More »Israel: A Rich Nation Receiving the Bulk of US Foreign Aid
Why is Israel a primary benefactor of United States foreign aid? Is Israel a proxy for US imperialism in the Middle East? Does American aid to Israel benefit constituencies other than the defense industry? The ongoing feud between Israel and Palestine has raised these questions to the forefront of public debate. Israel is the leading recipient of American foreign aid, despite its wealth. In 2022, The Economist ranked Israel as the fourth most successful economy in...
Read More »America the Obese: How Taxpayers Are Forced to Ruin Their Health
Since the original sugar tariff of 1789, US government policy has been to subsidize sugar, a policy that has led to serious consequences, including a health crisis of obesity. Original Article: America the Obese: How Taxpayers Are Forced to Ruin Their Health [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
Read More »What Would Happen If the US Stopped Supporting Ukraine?
Over the weekend, border-policy negotiations between Senate Democrats and Republicans fell apart. The talks were meant to firm up Republican support for the president’s massive $105 billion military support proposal ahead of Wednesday’s vote by including additional funds for border security in the spending package. Now, with no imminent approval of further aid to Ukraine, hawks in government and the media are trying to stoke panic about what will happen if Kyiv is...
Read More »Progressive Interventionism Is Ruining American Healthcare
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is at it again: demanding government intervention in the nation's healthcare system to deal with problems caused by earlier government intervention. Original Article: Progressive Interventionism Is Ruining American Healthcare [embedded content] Tags: Featured,newsletter
Read More »The Money Supply Continues its Biggest Collapse Since the Great Depression
Money supply growth fell again in October, remaining deep in negative territory after turning negative in November 2022 for the first time in twenty-eight years. October's drop continues a steep downward trend from the unprecedented highs experienced during much of the past two years. Since April 2021, money supply growth has slowed quickly, and since November, we've been seeing the money supply repeatedly contract year over year. The last time the year-over-year...
Read More »30-Year Mortgages Are Still a Sweet Deal—For People who Already Have Them
The thirty-year mortgage, of all things, came under attack in a piece by Ben Casselman in the New York Times. The three-decade fixed rate loan is, of course, a creation of the government and adds constant fuel to the US housing market. The title of Casselman’s piece calls the most popular debt instrument for home purchases “weird,” “cushy,” and “old.” He blames low interest rate thirty-year fixed loans for the broken housing market. Casselman points out that nearly...
Read More »Socialism vs. Economic Freedom
[From Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow (1979), Lecture 2, "Socialism" (1958)] I am here in Buenos Aires as a guest of the Centro de Difusión Economía Libre.1 What is economía libre? What does this system of economic freedom mean? The answer is simple: it is the market economy, it is the system in which the cooperation of individuals in the social division of labor is achieved by the market. This market is not a place; it is a process, it is the way in...
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