Category Archive: 6b.) Mises.org

Is Secondhand Smoke Bad, or Is It a Public Good? It’s Complicated

The usual answer is that secondhand smoke is bad. But if value is subjective, perhaps secondhand smoke also can be seen as a public good. Original Article: "Is Secondhand Smoke Bad, or Is It a Public Good? It’s Complicated"

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How People Determine the Value of a Good

In contrast to the imaginary way that mainstream economists present value, Austrian economists properly use ordinal rankings to determine value. Original Article: "How People Determine the Value of a Good"

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The Taxpayers Bailed Out Yellow Trucking. It Went Bankrupt Anyway.

After ninety-nine years in business, Yellow, one of the nation’s biggest trucking companies, shut down. The company has more than twelve thousand trucks and employed thirty thousand, with twenty-two thousand of those jobs held by Teamsters. If you are a taxpayer, you know all this, your government being a 29.6 percent shareholder of Yellow and all. The Trump administration’s Coronavirus, Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act dished out...

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Update on Toilet Paper

In this episode, Mark updates his early March 2023 episode (Mises.org/Minor11) on the high price of toilet paper. He shows how economic changes, so far, in 2023 seem to have vindicated his forecast of lower toilet paper and paper towel prices. It also demonstrates how the market process works on a minor scale, even when large determinants like Amazon, Covid, and the US home construction industry get tangled up with politicians and bureaucrats....

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The Bombing of Hiroshima: The Crime and the Cover-Up

How do you cover up an atomic bomb? The same way you cover up anything else: you don’t allow people to know what really happened. Of course, the magnitude and power of a mushroom cloud are plainly unmistakable. However, the effects of that bomb can be concealed and obfuscated from the general population. For over a year after the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the full extent of the bomb’s killing power was kept secret from the...

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AI Lacks the Entrepreneurial Intelligence to Plan an Economy

Can computers plan a socialist economy? The idea is not new; it first appeared in the debate over economic calculation, which began in 1920 with Ludwig von Mises’s first article on the topic and continued until 1949. This was a time when computers had recently emerged. Computers were not widespread, but their possibilities were evident. Oskar Lange considered the market economy to be a “crude and soon to be obsolete computing machine.” More...

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France’s Unrest Has Deep Roots. Proposed Immigration Restrictions Will Make Things Worse

Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s frescoes adorning the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, Italy, tell a timeless tale of governance. They portray a city flourishing under just laws and crumbling under misrule. The latter side of this allegory rings alarmingly relevant today as the recent riots in France paint a destructive urban tableau, mirroring the narrative of government failure. The situation has deteriorated so drastically that widespread use of force is now...

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Cracked-Up Slobodian

Professor Quinn Slobodian believes that free markets must lead to tyrannical worker exploitation, and socialism is the only solution. In truth, market competition is the answer.  Original Article: "Cracked-Up Slobodian"

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The Mirage of “Equal Pay” in Sports

Ryan McMaken joins Bob to discuss the recent US Women's World Cup elimination, and to dispel the myth that markets are discriminatory. After defending Megan Rapinoe's failed penalty kick, they dismantle her outspoken views on "equal pay" in sports, and examine the left's claim that law is required to fix prejudice in the labor market. The Mirage of "Equal Pay" in Sports Video of The Mirage of...

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“National Greatness” Is Not the Appropriate Response to “Wokeism”

Up from Conservatism: Revitalizing the Right after a Generation of DecayEdited by Arthur MilikhEncounter Books, 2023; 328 pp. The contributors to Up from Conservatism, most of whom are associated with the Claremont Institute, think that “movement” conservatism has failed, in large part through acceptance of the premises of the Left. The Right needs to carry the battle to the enemy, aiming at its destruction and its replacement by a sounder regime....

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Cultural Change Is Necessary for Capital Development

In order for nations to have capital development and market-based economies, they must have a cultural framework that accepts these developments. Too many nations do not, and they languish in poverty as a result. Original Article: "Cultural Change Is Necessary for Capital Development"

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The Problem with Public Transit

A friend of mine works for the public sector, in transit specifically. When I asked him to tell me what value he saw in “public transit” for society, he replied, You must be from the stone ages! Public transit fulfills an important function. It provides transportation for folks who can’t afford the private solutions, and also solves the problem of congestion and pollution in crowded cities. And it can do some of this better than private enterprise,...

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The Debt Ceiling Debate Was Pure Theater

When it comes to the debt ceiling, political parties are irrelevant, and the recent debt ceiling drama, was little more than a sham.  Original Article: "The Debt Ceiling Debate Was Pure Theater"

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Lost Continetti: A Neoconservative History of the Right

[The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism. By Matthew Continetti. Basic Books, 2022. 503 pages, Amazon Kindle Edition.] Why should we be interested in this book? At first glance, it appears that we shouldn’t be. Though the history of American conservatism is of great importance, and the author has amassed a great deal of information about it, he lacks an illuminating analytic framework; the “history” he recounts is little more than...

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The Propaganda of “Bidenomics”

The Biden Administration is attempting to take a victory lap for "Bidenomics," but the public isn't buying it. On this episode of Good Money, Dr. Jonathan Newman joins the show to talk about his doubts of a "soft landing" for the economy, and the lies being told to sell Central Bank Digital Currencies. Jonathan Newman's article on CBDCs: Mises.org/GM18a Jonathan Newman's article on "Soft Landing" headlines...

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Austrian Economics in Nigeria

On this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop are joined by Econ Bro, the founder of Nigerian Liberty, which offers seminars in Austrian economics in Nigeria. The three discuss the inflation crisis in Nigeria, the cultural consequences of rising prices in the country, and the costs of the state capture of its petrol industry. To learn more about Nigerian Liberty, visit NigerianLiberty.com. View Econ Bro's Substack...

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Easy Money Is a Much Bigger Economic Problem than Debt

Many economic commentators view debt as a major risk factor as far as economic health is concerned. This way of thinking has its origins in the writings of Irving Fisher. According to Fisher, the high level of debt runs the risk of setting in motion deflation and, in turn, a severe economic slump. According to Fisher, the high level of debt sets in motion the following sequence of events. Stage 1: The debt liquidation process is set in motion...

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Bidenomics Is Yet Another Version of Failed Industrial Policy

President Biden announced recently to much fanfare that his administration will transform the US economy through central planning. This does not end well. Original Article: "Bidenomics Is Yet Another Version of Failed Industrial Policy"

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Against Our Limitless Regime: An Empire of Lies

From war across the globe to regulating speech to printing trillions of dollars, the American regime accepts no limits on its power. As Ludwig von Mises understood, the state will take as much power as the people will let it, and in recent years the American regime has clearly concluded it can get away with unilaterally adopting vast new powers. Join the Mises Institute in Nashville on September 23rd for an event inspired by this siege of power and...

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Voting with Their Feet: The Lure of Migration

The exodus of human capital is a primary concern for developing countries wishing to stem the tide of emigration. Some believe that emigration prevents poor countries from capitalizing on the talents of their best people. Critics suggest that poor countries would excel if the smartest minds did not emigrate. Theoretically, this sounds plausible; however, it obscures the inspiration for emigration. If underperforming countries could equip their...

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