Category Archive: 6b) Austrian Economics

The US consumer sentiment index, compiled by the University of Michigan, fell to 69.5 in August from 71.6 in July. A weakening consumer sentiment index is seen as indicating a potential downturn in consumer spending and the economy in general. Most economic commentators agree that individual consumption rather than saving is the key to economic prosperity. Saving, they believe, hinders economic growth because it coincides with weakening demand for...

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Join the Mises Club Carolinas for their next Meetup on Saturday, October 7 in Spartanburg, SC. Timothy and Sarah Terrell will host the event at Initial Q Smokehouse from 4:00 - 8:00 p.m. The topic is "Education and Career Preparation from an Austrian Perspective."  To register or for more information, please contact Kent Misegades, [email protected].

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Rothbard Graduate Seminar is an intense study of Misesian and Rothbardian economic analysis with applications to current research and related fields. Participants discuss a common set of readings with each other and Mises Institute faculty, who give advanced lectures on the material. The goal is to equip graduate students with a solid understanding of the ideas of Mises and Rothbard, so that they may apply it to their graduate studies and...

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Last week, prosecutors for the Southern District of New York unsealed an indictment against New Jersey senator Robert Menendez. The senator, his wife, and several businessmen are accused of providing “sensitive U.S. Government information” and taking steps that “secretly aided the Government of Egypt” in exchange for cash, gold bars, a luxury convertible, and more. Senator Menendez has dismissed the charges and refuses to resign from Congress. In a...

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In February 2024, the Mises Institute will hold its next Mises Book Club, our new program to promote deep reading in Austrian economics.  In celebration of the 80th anniversary of F. A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom, this classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics will be the focus of the next meeting.  For eight riveting weeks, ten to fifteen specially selected undergraduate students will partake in rich...

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Hans-Hermann Hoppe, in his book Democracy: The God That Failed and his 1995 article in the Journal of Libertarian Studies, set forth an interesting theory concerning the difference in time preference between a monarch and a democratic politician. The argument stresses the difference in the use of political power according to the degree to which the ruler is future oriented. Hoppe also says that using the power of the state is in itself an...

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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) embargo on sales of crude oil from their member countries to the United States was a response to US support for Israel in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War against invading Egyptian and Syrian military forces. This oil embargo raised barrel prices on the open market and, when combined with US price controls, reduced the amount of oil available in the US for refining into gasoline, leading...

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The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on Wednesday left the target policy interest rate (the federal funds rate) unchanged at 5.5 percent. This "pause" in the target rate suggests the FOMC believes it has raised the target rate high enough to rein in price inflation which has run well above the Fed's arbitrary two-percent inflation target since mid-2021.  The press release from the FOMC was largely unchanged from...

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The most recent edition of the US Army War College’s academic journal includes a highly disturbing essay on what lessons the US military should take away from the continuing war in Ukraine. By far the most concerning and most relevant section for the average American citizen is a subsection entitled “Casualties, Replacements, and Reconstitutions” which, to cut right to the chase, directly states, “Large-scale combat operations troop requirements...

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