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. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

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 Constitution is a double-edged sword.On the one hand, trade restrictions between the states were eliminated, but on the other hand, the power to impose trade restrictions was transferred to the new central government. One could conceive of a scenario where a state had relatively low tariffs, but in the aftermath of the

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. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.

On April 1, California raised the minimum wage for large fast food restaurant franchises to $20 an hour. This law will threaten seven hundred thousand jobs by destroying the state’s food franchising business; however, there is one notable fast food franchise exempted from this minimum wage hike: Panera.Greg Flynn is the second-largest Panera franchisee in the world, but he is also known for his close relationship with California governor Gavin Newsom. This relationship stretches back to their high school years and presently takes the form of support and donations to Newsom’s political campaigns. With this close relationship well-documented, it is clear that there is more to this exception, as a recent article by Bloomberg speculates.When pressed on this exemption by a number of California

In its usual form, the case for privatizing public parking invokes the basic economic principles of supply and demand. This case is usually restricted to private parking lots and garages. For example, Walter Block discusses how market incentives can drive parking rates to rise to eliminate shortages here. A more radical proposal is the privatization of public parking altogether. A common form of public parking that libertarians can target for privatization is free public roadside parking.Under a free public roadside parking system, a section of the road is reserved for public parking, meaning that anyone and everyone, taxpayers and nontaxpayers alike, can park there. They face no barriers: no parking meters and no exclusion. This results in a tragedy of the commons. The fact that nonpayers

The Failure of the ‘New Economics’ thoroughly demolished the Keynesian system. Unfortunately, this “economic demolition” as Rothbard called it (Hazlitt 2007 [1959], xvi), went ignored by the mainstream despite it carrying implications that would have prevented the decline in theoretical vigor of mainstream economics that was Keynesianism. Hazlitt’s argument against Keynesianism was more than a mere theoretical critique; it was a robust argument fortified by sound economic theory and history. One area where Hazlitt excelled was in his critique of Keynes’ critique of the classical doctrine on unemployment.This paper will summarize Hazlitt’s discussion of Keynes’ rejection of the classical theory of unemployment. Secondly, Hazlitt’s arguments will be applied to evaluating modern macroeconomic

Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito

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Jonathan Casey, in his opening remarks during a debate with Ryan McMaken on national divorce, criticized national divorce on the grounds that it throws away the open borders compact between the states.

All of us have experienced government road closures and the traffic and safety nightmares they create. Private roads may be the answer to solving the problem.
Original Article: Privatizing Roads Solves the Problem of Road Closures

Wonka (2023) is a prequel film to the beloved story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Wonka tells the story of a young Willy Wonka, an up-and-coming chocolate salesman and magician, who challenges a chocolate cartel’s dominance.
As one could imagine, the film is full of scenes that cast private enterprise in a negative light. The main villains are stereotypical movie businessmen who will do anything, even murder, to achieve their ambition for higher profits. The cartel constantly violates Wonka’s private property, first by poisoning his merchandise and then by attempting to murder him.
Another scene shows Wonka signing a contract with hidden terms that essentially makes him a slave. With the legitimacy of this contract dubious, it is unlikely any just legal system would

While traveling recently, I was stuck in a terrible bout of traffic. Unbeknownst to me, West Virginia University’s fall graduation just ended, and I was caught in the middle of the seemingly endless stream of parents, relatives, and friends who were leaving the ceremony. To deal with this problem, the City of Morgantown closed down lanes and reserved them for exclusive use by graduation attendees. Though the city may have done a fine job handling traffic, this raises an interesting question: How would road closures be handled in a free market?
One thing is clear: the government would not have the authority to shut down roads. The example provided above may not be the worst case of government management, but one can easily think of others. Roads are shut down all the time for renovations.

Nippon Steel’s proposal to merge with US Steel is meeting opposition from the usual suspects in Washington, not to mention Tucker Carlson. Their hysteria is off the charts.
Original Article: Let them Merge: Foreign Acquisition of US Steel

Economic nationalists are once again fawning over Democratic US senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania. First it was for his opposition to Chinese-owned US farmland. Now he is opposing the acquisition of United States Steel Corporation (US Steel) by a Japanese company. This acquisition, however, should not be blocked. It should be embraced. The justifications for government intervention are not convincing.
News broke Monday, December 18, that Japanese steel producer Nippon Steel would acquire US Steel for $14.9 billion. As US Steel has a presence in Pittsburgh, this news predictably upset Pennsylvanian politicians, who seized the opportunity to virtue signal to Pennsylvanian steelworkers and voters. John Fetterman stated, “It’s absolutely outrageous that they have sold themselves to a

Critics of college legacy admissions claim that the practice is racist and admits undeserving students. The longer-term results of such admissions show why colleges continue to employ them.
Original Article: The Legacy of Legacy Admissions Is Not What the Critics Claim

Argentina’s president-elect, Javier Milei, is set on implementing promarket policies, including a vast desocialization, or privatization, of the economy. The privatization of the Argentine airline industry is seemingly first on the agenda (along with privatization of state-owned media). Privatization is necessary, but above all else, it must be done correctly.
Aerolíneas Argentina, the state-owned airline, makes up 63 percent of the domestic airline market in the country. Furthermore, its profitability has been falling since 2020. The airline arose out of a government-directed merger of four local carriers in 1949. The government essentially promoted the creation of this airline company, thereby harming competition.
Through various tribulations, Aerolíneas was once “privatized” in 1991,

Citing national security concerns, Arkansas ordered Chinese company Syngenta to sell off the 160 acres of farmland it owns in the state. The national security concerns are, as will be demonstrated, bogus; however, there may be more crony motivations for this order as well.
An article of mine published in July 2023 by the Libertarian Institute addresses these national security concerns. Walter Block also recently published a piece examining the issue. As it turns out, China owns hardly any farmland in the United States, composing 0.03 percent of total farmland “privately” owned in the US.
Additionally, if China were to use the land for strategic purposes, the US government would not hesitate to seize it. If anything, Chinese land in the US signals a commitment to peace rather than conflict.

In the aftermath of Hamas’s taking hostages in its conflict with Israel, the question arises: Who pays the ransom? State-financed payments lead to the worst outcomes and create moral hazards.
Original Article: Hostage Extraction Needs to be Privatized

In the aftermath of Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and its companion case, race-based affirmative action is, for the most part, dead. While there are legitimate criticisms of this decision from the Right, the Left has taken the near opposite approach.
Rather than simply lamenting, the Left is using this as an opportunity for taking further action against what they perceive to be racial discrimination. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) states in a tweet, “If SCOTUS was serious about their ludicrous ‘colorblindness’ claims, they would have abolished legacy admissions, aka affirmative action for the privileged. 70 percent of Harvard’s legacy applicants are white. SCOTUS didn’t touch that—which would have impacted them and their patrons.”
Beside the fact that by AOC’s own admission white

Amidst hostage scenarios, like the Hamas situation, it is important to remember why governments should not pay to have their nationals released. Paying for hostages to be released creates a perverse incentive in which more people are taken hostage to receive more payments. This is undoubtedly a subpar outcome.
Furthermore, any effort by governments to reclaim hostages makes their country’s nationals more prone to being taken hostage. Payments and alternative methods of extraction rely on the use of resources stolen from the taxpayer by the government. Let’s break it down.
The research paper “Bounties, Grants, and Market-Making Entrepreneurship” by David Lucas and Caleb Fuller finds that—in a variety of bounty programs (programs that pay out a reward to private actors for completing a

Some small municipalities in Pennsylvania have disbanded their police departments, so others want to tax them for “depending” on state police. There is an even better course of action: allow private policing.
Original Article: Police Mergers Are Not the Answer, but Privatization Is

Out of Pennsylvania’s twenty-five hundred municipalities, about half (1,279) have no police department as of 2013. Since 2013, twenty more municipalities have disbanded their police departments, opting for police coverage by the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP). On top of that, 420 municipalities only provide part-time coverage (no 24/7 coverage), requiring the PSP to “pick up the slack” so to speak. This may seem shocking, but this is the little-known reality of many Pennsylvanians.
Rising costs and strict budget constraints will only make police department disbandments more prevalent. This fact has struck fear in the hearts of many, prompting policy proposals to combat police department disbandments such as police regionalization (mergers), contracting for the police services of other

People celebrating Labor Day often do so by attending a regional Labor Day celebration, usually organized by labor unions. One undoubtedly hears the phrase “support all labor” being thrown around at these gatherings.
A Google search will reveal the most recent example of this phrase being used. In light of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) strike, a film festival released the following statement:
HollyShorts supports both the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes. In fact, we support all Labor, including the many people who work so hard behind the scenes to make films, especially independent films which are difficult to get funding for and finish. We owe it to our filmmakers to showcase their wonderful work. HollyShorts 2023 will go forward in this spirit.
HollyShorts is referring specifically to the film

Members of Congress claim to be "concerned" over the proposed merger between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour. They should be supporting it or, even better, backing off completely.

Original Article: "Golf Merger Is Opposed by Congress. This Is Misguided"

The DOJ claims that it has "protected" consumers by standing in the way of a partnership between JetBlue and American Airlines. The only thing the DOJ protected was higher-cost flying.

Original Article: "Flying into Foolishness: The DOJ "Saves" Consumers from Low-Cost Airlines"

Forcing the minimum wage above the real market wage causes more unemployment. Small businesses suffer from these mandates as do the least productive workers. 

Original Article: "A Higher Minimum Wage Won’t Improve Life in Pennsylvania"

The PGA Tour and the Saudi-owned LIV Golf are seeking to move past their cutthroat competition and merge together, but United States regulators are stepping in and framing the potential merger as a threat to US sovereignty and an expansion of Saudi Arabian influence, citing the Saudi regime’s brutality and alleged involvement in the 9/11 attacks.
In questioning representatives of the two companies, Senator Richard Blumenthal stated, “Today’s hearing is about much more than the game of golf. It’s about how a brutal, repressive regime can buy influence—indeed even take over a cherished American institution—to cleanse its public image.”
While the “cleanse its public image” part is not obviously true, does Blumenthal have a point? Senator Rand Paul seems unconvinced, saying that Congress has

Socialists and communists claim to support the rights of "indigenous" peoples. However, that support rings hollow given how the USSR abused the native peoples of Siberia, all while American socialists and communists uncritically supported the Soviet Union.

Original Article: "The Soviet Abuse of Indigenous Peoples"

Yet again, the government destroyed a business partnership that not only promised but actively delivered benefits to consumers. The Northeast Alliance (NEA), a partnership between airline companies JetBlue and American Airlines, was ruled against in federal court after a battle with the Department of Justice (DOJ). Like the rulings of cases that came before it, this antitrust action is void of common sense.
The NEA clearly does not establish a monopoly. JetBlue makes up just 5.5 percent of the airline market. Adding that to American’s 17.5 percent gets the market nowhere close to actual monopoly conditions. But, given that the NEA only services certain regions, it would be inappropriate to simply add their total market shares together.
This partnership only involves sharing certain

Pennsylvania has no state minimum wage. Currently, the law of the land is the federal minimum wage that sits at $7.25 per hour. Not having a state minimum wage can be immensely beneficial assuming that the general business climate is amenable to growth. Pennsylvania definitely can’t boast of that yet, but they have taken steps to get there. However, recent actions by the Democrat-controlled State House of Representatives threatens this potential growth.
In the summer of 2022, Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf signed into law a bill to lower the corporate net income tax (CNIT). I wrote about this with cautious optimism at the time, stating, “Pennsylvania should adamantly commit to keep to the scheduled CNIT decreases and continue lowering its taxes in general.” A year later, the tax decrease

The Democratic Socialists of America promotes a supposedly pro-Indigenous people platform. They stress that they do not want to further the “dispossession and exploitation of Indigenous people” while also recognizing the sovereignty of Native Americans. The Communist Party USA’s political program also stresses the inclusion of Indigenous people in the working-class movement. While these organizations are partially right in calling for the recognition of tribal sovereignty (free enterprise would help more than socialism), they must also recognize the atrocities committed by the Soviet Union, the representative of twentieth-century socialism, against the native tribes of Siberia.
I alluded to the abuses of minority groups by the Soviet Union in a recent article, but I did not go into much

Socialists like Bernie Sanders and the editors of Jacobin have decried the possible US government debt default. Marx and Lenin would have vociferously disagreed.

Original Article: "Socialists Should Support Government Default: Their Forebears Certainly Did"

During a debate on capitalism with James Otteson, Michael Anton opined that free markets are harmful to a nation’s economy. Perhaps he needs to learn economics.

Original Article: "The Economic Nationalists Are Wrong: Free Trade Means Freedom and Prosperity"

Bernie Sanders, in a recent opinion piece, attacked Republicans for trying to get concessions out of the Biden administration under threat of debt default, stating, “Defaulting on our nation’s debt would be a disaster.” Writers at Jacobin echo Bernie’s sentiment.
Unfortunately, it seems like modern socialists are against default; however, historic socialists are not on the same page as our contemporaries. Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and other socialists were in favor of debt default, and after communist revolutions, the leaders of those regimes almost always defaulted on the national debt, making socialists consistent with libertarians on this issue.
Marx’s rhetoric on public debt ranges from neutral to negative. Despite giving public debt credit for the transition from primitive to modern

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a debate about the morality of capitalism between James Otteson and Michael Anton, a defender of economic nationalism. Otteson made a good case for capitalism; however, Anton derailed the debate by choosing to focus on specific policies rather than ethical concerns. Ironically, Anton admits that he has hardly ever picked up an economics textbook.
Throughout the debate, Anton made claims that were either misleading or false. I will address the most egregious here.
Tariffs and Free Trade
Anton’s foremost claim is that tariffs are, in fact, beneficial for economic development. Without giving much evidence, he merely appeals to the authority of Alexander Hamilton and the infant industry argument. Perhaps his ignorance of economics stunts his

People from socially and economically marginized groups in the USA tend to support socialism. Yet socialists have a long and bloody history of suppressing these very groups.

Original Article: "Socialism, Minority Groups, and Personal Liberties"

While most free market advocates are fixated on the national debt, they also should be looking at municipal debt over which taxpayers have no say. Maybe default is the answer.

Original Article: "Should Local Municipalities Default on Their Debts? Seems Like a Good Idea"

Socialists have managed to acquire the loyalty of a coalition of disparate groups by championing the principle of personal liberty. Especially in the United States, many women, disabled, gay people, transgender people, racial and ethnic minorities, and immigrants are among the proud supporters of the socialist cause, foolishly believing that capitalism or the free market is antithetical to their livelihood or lifestyles.
They could not be more wrong. Unfortunately, under socialism, people are not self-owners; they belong to the state.
The state owns everyone’s bodies under socialism. No example is more extreme than the gulags of the Soviet Union, where the state sent millions to forced-labor camps in which about 1.6 million died. The individual was merely a producer good in the state’s

Most Americans do not understand debt default. When it is explained, debt default comes off as immorally reneging on the financial obligations of the government. In contrast, libertarians have demonstrated that it is, in fact, moral and beneficial. However, when default is brought up, it is hardly ever discussed in terms of local governments. So, here is why your local government should leave their creditors in the dust.
Government issued debt is essentially immoral. Government debt issuance is an aggressive action and should be rejected as such. It involuntarily transfers money from the taxpayer to the government’s creditors. There is no positive obligation to pay back the creditors because the creditors are fully aware of where the payments come from—involuntary transfers from the