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 More »Economists and the State: From Enemies to Friends
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 More »Welcome and Opening Remarks to the 2024 Supporters Summit
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 More »Beware of War Hawks in “America First” Clothing
For the past eight years, the two major political parties have been gripped by a messy and ongoing realignment. It began with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, which was a major repudiation of the neoconservative-establishment coalition that had dominated the Republican Party since the presidency of George W. Bush.Trump’s condemnation of the war in Iraq—which he correctly said was sold on lies—and his skepticism of continuing to fund radical Islamists in a...
Read More »For Austrian Scholars: Theory Development Workshop at OSU (Application Deadline This Saturday)
A notice from Steve Trost, Director Institute for the Study of Free Enterprise at Oklahoma State University:(Note that the deadline for applications is this Saturday (10/19) at 8p CDT.)Greetings Mises Fellows & Senior Fellows, and Associated Scholars!Mark Packard (Florida Atlantic Univ.) and I have been organizing a Theory Development Workshop (TDW) that will take place November 7 & 8 in Stillwater, OK. The workshop will be led by Mark Packard, Jeff...
Read More »The Federal Reserve and the Regime Are One and the Same
For decades, the US Federal Reserve has carefully cultivated and promoted the idea that it is somehow separate and independent from the US regime that created it. The ruse has certainly worked. Economists and media pundits frequently refer to this alleged Fed “independence” as if it were a given, and as if there were a wall of separation between the executive branch and the central bank. Others take it even further, and in podcasts and social media one encounters a...
Read More »The Constitution’s Negative Effects on Free Trade
Samuel Gregg recently gave a lecture at West Virginia University. Gregg is an engaging speaker and a good antidote to the shift of the Christian right to Christian nationalism or Catholic integralism. However, we should be skeptical of some of what he argues with respect to free trade. Gregg argues that the Constitution is a free-trade agreement between the states, which in part allowed the subsequent uptick in growth in the US. While this is partially true, the...
Read More »The Perils of Lawfare
A popular quote from Nicolás Gómez Dávila, “Dying societies accumulate laws like dying men accumulate remedies,” reflects the idea that a healthy and mature society should not be preoccupied with constantly creating new laws, prescribing to itself a cocktail of legislative remedies to fix its mounting problems. An over-lawyered society is a society in decay. Everything is disputed. There are sharp divisions, exacerbated by a dishonest and hypocritical façade of...
Read More »Does the Central Bank Determine Interest Rates?
Most experts agree that, through the manipulation of the short-term interest rates, the central bank can also determine the direction of the long-term interest rates. Some popular thinking alleges that the long-term interest rates are the average of the present and the expected short-term interest rates. Hence, it would appear that the central bank is the key in determining the interest rates. But is this valid?Individual time preferences and interest ratesAccording...
Read More »Will Politicians Toxify Freedom Forever?
The official theme song of the Kamala Harris presidential campaign is “Freedom” by Beyonce. But a more accurate theme would be the Rolling Stones classic, Under my Thumb. Vice President Harris is seeking the presidency as the greatest champion of freedom in modern times. But Kamala-style freedom will only unleash the government, not private citizens.The original Bill of Rights created a row of bulwarks for citizens to prevent government oppression. In the era of the...
Read More »