Neo-Calvinist economic thought claims that prices and private property cause scarcity. However, they provide no methodology for their claims. Original Article: "Making Nonsense from Sense: Debunking Neo-Calvinist Economic Thought" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. [embedded content]...
Read More »Are Large Hospitals the Problem with US Healthcare?
Is the main problem with the US healthcare system that hospitals have gotten too large since the 1990s? That seems to be the remarkable conclusion of two of the nation’s most distinguished health-policy analysts, David Dranove and Lawton R. Burns. Dranove is an economist and Walter J. McNerney Distinguished Professor of Health Industry Management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Burns is a sociologist and James Joo-Jin Kim professor of...
Read More »The “Meritocracy” Was Created by and for the Progressive Ruling Class
The American Left has decided that the so-called meritocracy is a bad thing. In a typical example from the Los Angeles Times this week, Nicholas Goldberg points to a number of issues exploring how merit is not actually the key to power and riches in America: The United States is supposed to be a meritocracy. The story goes that if you work hard and play by the rules, especially with regard to education, you can compete, rise and succeed here. . . . But Americans are...
Read More »The New Racism of the Elect
In the name of "fighting racism," a number of writers and pundits are making social relationships between people of different races and ethnic groups more contentious. Original Article: "The New Racism of the Elect" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. [embedded content] Tags:...
Read More »We Are All Counterfeiters Now
Intellectuals and politicians often try to verbally summarize or justify conventional thinking in pithy ways. Milton Friedman (in 1965) and Richard Nixon (in 1971) both said different versions of the phrase “we are all Keynesians now.” . . . Friedman and Nixon were describing the thoughts behind the implementation of Great Society redistribution programs and an inflationary monetary policy designed to offset the cost of those programs. —Brian Wesbury and Robert...
Read More »Roald Dahl and James Bond Books Are Getting Woke Rewrites. Copyright Law Ensures You Can’t Stop Them.
Thanks to copyright laws, the estate of Roald Dahl can not only rewrite his books, but can also essentially outlaw the old versions. Only books in the public domain are safe from this. Original Article: "Roald Dahl and James Bond Books Are Getting Woke Rewrites. Copyright Law Ensures You Can't Stop Them." This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. [embedded content]...
Read More »Gustave de Molinari, First Anarcho-Capitalist
Of all the leading libertarian French economists of the mid- and late nineteenth centuries, the most unusual was the Belgian-born Gustave de Molinari (1819-1912). Born in Liege, the son of a Belgian physician and a baron who had been an officer in the Napoleonic army, Molinari spent most of his life in France, where he became a prolific and indefatigable author and editor in lifelong support of pure laissez-faire, of international peace, and in determined and...
Read More »Slavery in the Americas: Separating Fact from Fiction
The history of transatlantic slavery is riddled with fables and errors. Erroneous claims have been propagated in the media because history is currently perceived as a political project that must justify present sensibilities. History has become so politicized that rigorous research is unable to disabuse activists of inaccuracies. Due to the rampant politicization of academia, noted scholars are usually cajoled into apologizing for defending historical standards....
Read More »Is Democracy under Attack in Canada? No, but It Should Be
Canadian political, academic, and media elites "worry" that democracy in that country may be under attack. Actually, democracy works all too well there. Original Article: "Is Democracy under Attack in Canada? No, but It Should Be" This Audio Mises Wire is generously sponsored by Christopher Condon. [embedded content]...
Read More »Biden’s Executive Order on Equity: It Will Create Greater Inequality
On February 16, 2023, President Joe Biden issued his second executive order to strengthen equity within federal agencies. Among other things, it ordered them to install equity officers and implement action plans with the superficial aim of making it easier for “underserved communities” to access federal resources. Although there is plenty of commentary on the specific content of the new order, that is not what this article is about. Rather, the purpose of this...
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