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.

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.

It is a benefit of sound economic theory that it proves very useful in the refutation of popular fallacies and misconceptions about the workings of the market economy. One such fallacy is the assertion that government interventions through protective tariffs are without negative consequences for the people of the imposing country. Politicians and statesmen have employed these talking points to earn the support of the majority of the voting masses who are mostly unable to fully comprehend economic arguments.This article attempts to briefly assert that government interference with domestic markets are precursors of protective tariffs which, in turn, impair the welfare of consumers by imposing the burden of higher prices for commodities acquired in the market.Effects of Coercive Interference

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.

With a few exceptions, several epistemological procedures in the science of economics are heavily swayed by the gale force of empiricism or logical positivism. Consequently, we increasingly find the science of economics compartmentalized into various methodological schools which, to various degrees, are keen on importing the methods of the natural sciences at the expense of the actual task of economics.Within economics, there are entrenched methodological frameworks that heavily favor measurements with the aim of making so-called “falsifiable” empirical predictions. This tinkering with positivism in the study of human action has led to a widespread tendency to misconstrue prices as measurements of value, given the tight link between the two. It is the task of this article to refute this

In the science of human action, the effects of erroneous notions of the market process, most particularly as they pertain to policy-making decisions, are not to be underestimated. The economist can not remain indifferent to these in an era in which the appeals of interventionism and government expansion increasingly hold sway in the domain of public policy. Put differently, we cannot deny how economic and social policies rooted in mistaken views of the market’s process—affect the decisions of consumers who are intent on employing the market as a means towards the satisfaction of their most urgent needs. This is of general significance given that policies, when unsuitable to chosen ends, primarily result in either or both of the following outcomes: (a) Some groups in society becoming

It is popularly deemed a sign of moral superiority and a mark of the “progressive” mind to heavily criticize the existence of inequalities of wealth and income within the social order of the division of labor and private ownership in the means of production.

In the history of the social sciences, no other field of study has attracted so great a level of hostility as the science of economics. Since the inception of the science, the onslaught against it has been on the rise, extending across individuals and groups. And the outlook for a favorable reception of the science is bleak, given that a significant number of people are incapable of following through the extended chains of reasoning required for comprehending economic arguments.Economics takes ends and goals of action as a given and—in matters of value judgments—it assumes neutrality (i.e., non-normativity), which is characteristic of a science. However, questions of suitability of means and various policies adopted to attain chosen ends are not beyond the scope of economic analysis.The

Within the social order, characterized by the division of labor and private ownership of the means of production, there exists instances of human action—purposeful behavior—whose origins consist in the motive and choice to attain one’s ends. In entrepreneurial endeavors this entails outperforming fellow participants in serving consumers. Acting man in his entrepreneurial capacity, striving to expand the boundaries of attractive opportunities available to consumers in the market, much more than his competitors. This could be in the form of differentiated products of better quality, lower prices, or a combination of both.We find a readiness to outperform behaviorally, concretized in the dispositions of certain market participants, namely, an ongoing entrepreneurial alertness to underpriced

Many misconceptions about the nature of the free market system stem from an ignorance of who ultimately benefits from the market process. That the significant number of those who would benefit the most from the operations of the market—consumers—tend to also harbor much of the antagonisms against logically necessary features of the market highlights the unfortunate reality that the majority of people have yet to rightly understand how their best interests could be served by the mechanism of the market. Thus, it is not surprising that, in modern history, records abound of ambitious politicians, statesmen, and planners who have exploited this widespread ignorance in furthering utopian ends by means of eclectic and inherently contradictory policies which rational deliberation could easily

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.

While organized labor across Nigeria is currently jubilant over their recent win in obtaining a minimum wage increase by fiat, every student of praxeology in Nigeria receives this news with mixed feelings and the utmost reservation, because we are cognizant of the outcomes which inevitably follow from such interventions in the free market.

Modern complex economies are remarkably characterized by the social division of labor. Individuals of varying abilities, personalities, and specialized technical knowledge in pursuing their self-interests integrate themselves into this social system by voluntarily participating in the various stages of production and exchange of goods and services.Oftentimes this voluntary system of social cooperation called the “free market system” is met with a series of violent interventions which ultimately impede the maximal satisfaction of most urgent wants. Recall that individuals in order to maximize utility usually grade their wants according to an ordinal scale of importance and expect to satisfy their most urgent wants through the mechanism of a free market.As Nigerians currently cry out in

Every year, thousands of Nigerian youths who are below the age of thirty and who’ve completed their undergraduate studies—whether in Nigeria or abroad—are compelled by law to give up one year of their working time in active duty to the country under the auspices of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), an agency of the government.It has now been fifty years since the establishment of the NYSC mandatory program under Decree No. 24 of May 22, 1973 by the then–military regime led by General Yakubu Gowon (retired). Among other stated social objectives of the NYSC as written in the decree is “to raise the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by giving them the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievements, social and cultural improvements.” Whether these social objectives