Category Archive: 6b) Austrian Economics

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There’s No Place like Noam

2023-06-02

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2023-06-02

Noam Chomsky's latest offering—a series of interviews—presents the best (and worst) of one of America's premier public intellectuals. Original Article: "There's No Place like Noam"

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Opposing Critical Race Theory Doesn’t Make You a “White Supremacist”

2023-06-02

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2023-06-02

Kimberlé Crenshaw, one of the founders of critical race theory (CRT), recently decried what she called the “war on wokeness” (by which she seems to mean a war on CRT). According to her, this “war on wokeness” is “the road to an authoritarian state that’s paved through the history of white supremacy.” It’s true that the “war on wokeness” has taken on authoritarian overtones of late. Many Republicans are rejecting the ideas of pluralism and free...

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Do People Value Money Because They Need It to Pay Taxes?

2023-06-02

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2023-06-02

Per Bylund joins Bob to discuss his new paper at the QJAE, which points out several flaws in the MMT claim that money is valued in order to pay taxes. Per's QJAE article: Mises.org/HAP398a Do People Value Money Because They Need It to Pay Taxes? Video of Do People Value Money Because They Need It to Pay Taxes?

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Edmund Phelps on Egalitarianism

2023-06-02

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2023-06-02

The eminent economist Edmund Phelps is a “liberal” in the modern sense, not a libertarian, but in his recent book My Journeys in Economic Theory (Columbia University Press, 2023), he makes a number of points that those of us who are libertarians will find useful. Opponents of rights-based libertarianism like Andrew Koppelman in his book Burning Down the House say that without government welfare programs, the poor would perish. This outcome is fine...

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Biden Wants Sanctions for Uganda Because Its Government Passed Anti-LGBT Laws

2023-06-02

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2023-06-02

In an excellent display of how US foreign policy can be used as a means of pandering to domestic interest groups, the Biden administration has threatened to impose sanctions on Uganda as punishment for that regime's adoption of new laws criminalizing some types of homosexual behavior.  While it is abundantly clear that this move from the Ugandan state presents absolutely no threat to any vital US interest, the Biden administration apparently...

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Banks Are Lending Less Money, and That’s a Formula for Recession

2023-06-02

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2023-06-02

A new Fed survey shows that banks are cutting back on lending big time. Over the past thirty-five years, this almost always predicts recession. Our economy can't survive without endless new infusions of easy money.  Original Article: "Banks Are Lending Less Money, and That's a Formula for Recession"

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Is the US Banking Crisis Over? It Has Barely Begun

2023-06-02

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2023-06-02

According to some commentators, the US banking crises is over, or at least can be easily managed by the Federal Reserve System. In addition, the Fed chairman has vouched for the health of the US banking sector. However, the banking crisis is likely in its early stages. What has started as the collapse of regional banks is likely to spread to national banks. The key reason for that is the decline in the pool of savings and continuation of fractional...

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The Attack on the Western Tradition

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

[This article is adapted from a lecture delivered at the Reno Mises Circle in Reno, Nevada. on May 20, 2023.] We are faced today with a concentrated attack on the great thinkers of the Western tradition, who are dismissed as “dead white European males.” Robert Nozick used to say that what offended him most in this phrase was the word “dead.” It’s not nice to beat up on people who can’t fight back because they are no longer here! But the attack I’m...

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Government Redistribution Is the REAL Trickle-Down Economics

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

President Biden recently claimed that "trickle-down economics" doesn't work but transferring wealth from taxpayers to politically connected people is the real trickle-down economics. Original Article: "Government Redistribution Is the REAL Trickle-Down Economics"

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A Rothbardian History of the United States

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

In this episode of Radio Rothbard, Ryan McMaken and Tho Bishop take a revisionist Rothbardian lens to American history. Was the American revolution a good thing? Was Andrew Jackson better than Thomas Jefferson? Does a historical narrative really matter? Tune in for this and more! [embedded content] New Radio Rothbard mugs are now available at the Mises Store. Get yours at Mises.org/RothMug  PROMO CODE: RothPod for 20% off

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The Real Costs of Government Spending

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

In this episode of Good Money, Tho Bishop is joined by Dr. Jonathan Newman to discuss the real costs of government spending. The end of the debt ceiling battle has resulted in the predictable outcome of normalizing the fiscal insanity of covid-era spending. Tho and Jonathan discuss how this was predictable to those familiar with the work of Dr. Robert Higgs, how mainstream GDP measures miss the true costs of government, and alternative approaches...

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The Republican Debt-Ceiling “Deal” Is Exactly What We Expected

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

After countless predictions of economic armaggeddon and panicky entreaties to raise the debt ceiling with no strings attached, the Biden White House and Congressional Republicans agreed on a new budget deal this week that does virtually nothing at all to change the status quo. The deal in no way returns federal spending to pre-covid levels. At best, the deal does "limit" spending by placing tentative caps on spending which—assuming they...

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Can We Understand AI? A Response to Jordan Peterson’s Podcast

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

Like snobby teenagers claim of themselves, many say that “nobody understands artificial intelligence (AI).” For example, in a recent interview between Jordan Peterson and Brian Roemmele about ChatGPT, Jordan Peterson claimed that “The system is too complex to model” and each AI system is not only incomprehensible but unique. He further claims that “some of these AI systems, they’ve [AI experts] managed to reduce what they do learn to something...

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The “Buy Black” Movement: Divisive or a Boon to Black Entrepreneurs?

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

Calls for black consumers to "Buy Black" can be interpreted as socially divisive, but they are also a way to encourage black entrepreneurs in a free market. Original Article: "The "Buy Black" Movement: Divisive or a Boon to Black Entrepreneurs?"

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Smarter Talk Is Smarter Action

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

Americans have long thought of themselves as people of action. As Leonard Read noted in his article “How to Gain Liberty,” the sentiment “I want less talk and more action” is (or at least once was) common among Americans. It even extends to situations when people recognize that their liberties are threatened. But then the question arises as to what sorts of action are appropriate in defense of our liberties: Thus speak Americans when they suddenly...

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The Fed Is Insolvent, and That’s a Bad Thing

2023-06-01

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2023-06-01

On this first episode of the Fed Watch Podcast, Ryan McMaken and Senior Fellow Alex Pollock talk about how the Federal Reserve has negative cash flow. The Fed will print money to "solve" the problem. Be sure to follow the Fed Watch Podcast at Mises.org/FedPod. Recommended Reading "The Fed’s Capital Goes Negative" by Alex J. Pollock: Mises.org/FW_01_A "Who Owns Federal Reserve Losses and How Will They Impact...

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Understanding Relationships between Money Supply and Liquidity

2023-05-31

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2023-05-31

Can the injection of new money into the economic system enhance economic growth? Not really. Increasing (or decreasing) the money supply affects the demand for money but doesn't make us wealthier. Original Article: "Understanding Relationships between Money Supply and Liquidity"

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A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, Two Volumes

2023-05-31

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2023-05-31

A Collection of the Political Writings of William Leggett, selected and arranged, with a preface, by Theodore Sedgwick, in two volumes. (1839) This collection provides important example of populist laissez-faire opinion from the Jacksonian Era in the United States. In terms of economic policy, the Jacksonians favored low taxes, decentralization, and hard-money while opposing central banks and regulation of private business. William Leggett was born...

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The Economic Nationalists Are Wrong: Free Trade Means Freedom and Prosperity

2023-05-31

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2023-05-31

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a debate about the morality of capitalism between James Otteson and Michael Anton, a defender of economic nationalism. Otteson made a good case for capitalism; however, Anton derailed the debate by choosing to focus on specific policies rather than ethical concerns. Ironically, Anton admits that he has hardly ever picked up an economics textbook. Throughout the debate, Anton made claims that were either...

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The Putrid Underbelly of Woke Capitalism

2023-05-31

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2023-05-31

American corporations are lavishing billions of dollars on leftist groups in the name of "equity." But many of them also are donating to even more questionable people and causes. Original Article: "The Putrid Underbelly of Woke Capitalism"

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