Category Archive: 6b) Austrian Economics

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The Lords of Easy Money, The Price of Time and Austrian Business Cycle Theory

2024-04-13

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2024-04-13

Two books have recently been published on post-2007-2008 financial crisis history. The first is The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy by Christopher Leonard and it is my favorite of the two. Mr. Leonard describes the post-crisis financial environment extremely well in a way that is consistent with Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) without naming it. I expected this as the author is a journalist writing for...

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The Hazards of “Colorblind Equality”

2024-04-13

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2024-04-13

The words of Lewis Carroll are often cited in reference to the culture wars and the redefinition of words whose meaning used to be regarded as plain.“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”This is...

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Disappointing News

2024-04-13

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2024-04-13

Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito Website powered by Mises Institute donors Mises Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent the law allows. Tax ID# 52-1263436

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Simon Guenzl vs. Dave Smith on Open Borders

2024-04-12

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2024-04-12

Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito Website powered by Mises Institute donors Mises Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent the law allows. Tax ID# 52-1263436

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Why Politicians and Bureaucrats Choose Politics over Sound Economics

2024-04-12

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2024-04-12

We are taught from a very young age; “Government works for you”, or “the Government is the embodiment of the populous.” We accept these slogans blindly and carry on day to day. However, reality does not match up with these catch phrases. This is painfully clear when looking at the incentives that face these officeholders. After examining just a few, it’s clear we ought to adopt slogans that align with reality like, “the Government works for...

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The Non-Austrian Theory of the Nonbusiness Cycle

2024-04-12

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2024-04-12

The Prophets of Doomby Neema ParviniImprint Academic, 2023; 227 pp.It was to be expected that Neema Parvini would give us an excellent book, and he has not disappointed us. Parvini is an outstanding Shakespeare critic and has written an important book on property rights, The Defenders of Liberty. In The Prophets of Doom, he discusses with marvelous concision a number of thinkers who have rejected the notion of universal historical progress,...

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Savor the Taste of Independence, Grow Your Own!

2024-04-12

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2024-04-12

Growing your own tomatoes can be rewarding far beyond the sweet taste of your crop.The traditional extra benefits keep bringing many of us back season after season. If you’re a gardener, you know the great feeling of acting directly on nature to produce the food you eat. Raising tomatoes gets you outside and sweating, and usually provides a sense of accomplishment. It encourages discipline and planning and demands a bit of knowledge and a ton of...

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Milei Tries to Tackle Rent Control in Argentina

2024-04-11

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2024-04-11

The major cities of the world have been facing housing problems for years. With the increase of immigrants and of people experiencing homelessness, the discussion about housing regulation has intensified.The West, once a bastion of ideas of freedom and free markets, continues to harbor central planners whose delusions of omnipotence are paid for by the misfortune of ordinary people as the regulation attempts of these planners fail because such...

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The Population Explosion Disaster that Never Happened

2024-04-11

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2024-04-11

I do not hear much talk about world population these days, the way I did growing up in the 1960s and ’70s. People were supposedly starving, dying, with tens of millions more sure to die. The problem back then was that there were just too many, well, people.Population numbers coming out of China and India were unthinkable, and projections indicated many more people were going to be born into this dire situation. There were over twenty thousand...

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On 100-Percent Reserves, Milei, and Argentina

2024-04-11

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2024-04-11

Unsurprisingly, Javier Milei´s monetary reform plans are discussed intensively in libertarian circles. For the first time, a real libertarian reform of the monetary and financial system is in sight. One of the main issues of contentions is Milei´s plan to introduce a 100% reserve banking system. Such a move would be truly revolutionary. The Argentinian banking system would be sound and stable. Harmful credit expansion would be ruled out....

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Unmasking Democracy: A Moral Virtue or a Flawed Tool?

2024-04-11

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2024-04-11

This year, more than sixty countries will hold or have already held elections; a quarter of the population will participate in democracy. Most people in the free world would consider that a victory for liberalism (“liberalism” in the traditional meaning of the word, not the corrupted definition used in the United States). Democracy is often staged as the epitome of freedom and prosperity, a noble system where the voices of the people not only reign...

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Trump Is Right about Abortion and Lindsey Graham Is Wrong

2024-04-11

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2024-04-11

Donald Trump last week said he opposes any national legislation on abortion, and said he supports state governments adopting their own policies. According to USA Today:  "Former President Donald Trump said individual states should choose their own abortion restrictions, avoiding talk of any kind of federal government ban and drawing criticism from Democrats and anti-abortion Republicans alike on a pivotal election issue. ...At the end of the...

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Why Libertarianism Is Flourishing in Polish Universities

2024-04-11

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2024-04-11

Tu ne cede malis, sed contra audentior ito Website powered by Mises Institute donors Mises Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax-deductible to the full extent the law allows. Tax ID# 52-1263436

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Summer 2024 Virtual Mises Book Club

2024-04-11

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2024-04-11

In June 2024, the Mises Institute will hold its next Mises Book Club, a program that promotes deep reading in Austrian economics.The reading for this book club will be one of Ludwig von Mises's most popular works: Economic Policy: Thoughts for Today and Tomorrow. This year marks the 45th anniversary of its publication.This work is one of the best introductions to the ideas of Ludwig von Mises. It is based on six lectures he gave in 1959, covering a...

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The Siren Song of Equality

2024-04-10

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2024-04-10

The “racial equality” debates are characterized by evolving concepts and terminology in a constant search for better ways to express the ideals and values of the protagonists. The mantras of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) are now under increasing attack as several states move to ban DEI programs. In search of an alternative conceptual foundation for their equality schemes, many liberals (both progressive and conservative) who wish to...

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Finklestein’s Folly: How Not to Discredit One’s Opponents

2024-04-10

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2024-04-10

The ongoing Israeli-Palestine conflict continues to captivate podcasters and listeners. So, Lex Friedman tapped into this interest by assembling a panel of experts to debate the issue. However, his decision to invite online personality Destiny as a commentator to defend Israel elicited criticisms, as Destiny is a college dropout who was parachuted to fame as a videogame streamer before becoming a political commentator.Since then, he has established...

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“Desire Paths” and the Problem with Central Planning

2024-04-10

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2024-04-10

I recently attended the Austrian Economics Research Conference, which is held annually at the Mises Institute on the campus of Auburn University. After an inspiring day of presentations, I began my trek back to the Auburn University Hotel. As I made my way down the sidewalk, I found myself walking along a well-trodden dirt path. Soon enough I was back on the sidewalk, and I turned around, quickly realizing I had taken the “wrong” path. The correct...

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McConnell Cannot Stop the Non-Interventionist Tide

2024-04-10

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2024-04-10

Even Republican stalwarts like current Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are starting to notice that something is shifting in the party. While McConnell announced recently that he would step down as Republican leader in the US Senate, in an interview last week he was adamant that he would continue to serve out his term in the Senate with one purpose in mind: “fighting back against the isolationist movement in my own party.”He sounds...

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Invasion Alert

2024-04-10

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2024-04-10

Many Americans care about the dangers of mass immigration. Are they right to be concerned? In what follows, I’ll try to show that they are right. Immigration of elements hostile to American values does indeed pose a grave threat. But, if we are libertarians, don’t we have to defend “open borders”? I will argue that we don’t.One of the most obvious reasons mass immigration is a problem is its immense cost—hundreds of billions of dollars. A post from...

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Biden’s Inflation Narrative Dies as Price Growth Rises to a Seven-Month High

2024-04-10

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2024-04-10

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest price inflation data, CPI inflation in March rose to a seven-month high, and price inflation hasn't proven nearly as transitory as the regime's economists have long predicted. According to the BLS, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose 3.5 percent year over year during March, without seasonal adjustment. That’s the thirty-seventh month in a row of inflation well above the Fed’s arbitrary 2...

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