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.

One of the most legendary figures in the history of the liberty movement was Lysander Spooner (1808–87), a Massachusetts-based lawyer, writer, and political theorist. He is particularly well known for his abolitionism, rejection of social contract theory, and belief in natural law. Unfortunately neglected, however, are his economic writings, including among them Poverty: Its Illegal Causes and Legal Cure and Universal Wealth Shown to Be Easily Attainable. While these works contain some serious issues from the Austrian perspective, they are filled with valuable insights which remain relevant for the present day.Both works deal primarily with the conditions necessary for raising the living standards of the general public, particularly the poor, and reducing artificial, state-supported income

One thing to be said in favor of the American conservative establishment is the fact that they at least pay lip service to the idea of a free market. They have also memorized the typical talking points in its defense, including the greater prosperity it provides, the morality of private property, and the impossibility of successful central planning.