Recently, I took up reading Michel Foucault ‘s Discipline and Punish , published in 1975. The most interesting part is the chapter on panopticism. Panopticism is a social theory of power, and how power structures evolve and spread throughout society. The name is derived from Jeremy Bentham ‘s “ Panopticon “. Bentham’s Panopticon was meant to be
(And by football, I mean soccer. Bare with me.) I am sure that not everyone will be as excited as me, but it is always nice to see something that relates to economics in news relating to your favorite sport. And, it does not hurt when the news has to do with central banking and government intervention. Marca , a Madrid-based sports newspaper,
One of John Maynard Keynes’ alleged contributions to economic science is a focus on “expectations.” What is meant by expectations is how individuals predict the uncertain future to be; expectations will influence what actions individuals will undertake in the present (since all action is intertemporal). Keynes, of course, considered these
I thought fellow Austrians would be interested in an excerpt from Krugman’s 1997 paper in Foreign Affairs , “Is Capitalism Too Productive,” Heterodox doctrines, in economics and elsewhere, often fail to get adequately discussed in their formative stages. Both the intellectual and the political establishment tend to regard them as unworthy of
I spent much of the weekend in Toronto, Canada, to speak at a Mises Circle held on Saturday . I spoke along with GMU Professor Larry White, Professor George Bragues, and Chris Horlacher (Maple Leaf Metals). The lectures, apart from mine (but, in my defense, it was my first time speaking at this type of event), were great. White spoke on the
Yesterday, Paul Krugman blogged about the economics of environmentalism and alternative energy, trying to twist the argument in his favor by claiming that there simply are not the incentives in place to attract investors into alternative energy industries. Writes Krugman, “If you seriously believe in markets, you should believe that given the
Brad DeLong comments on Ron Paul’s (and Mises’) views on monetary expansion, inflation, and the business cycles, showing (once again) a complete lack of understand of Mises’ argument. I am bit hesitant to comment on the Mises blog, given that few readers here probably even care about what DeLong has to say. But, to me it is amazing that an
If you have not read Peter Boettke’s review of Tyler Cowen’s The Great Stagnation , I suggest doing so. I have not yet read Cowen’s book, so I cannot personally attest to how accurately Boettke interprets Cowen’s message, but I think there is a lot to agree with in what Boettke himself writes in his examination. Certainly, that government spending
David Glasner attempts to defend central bankers from the accusation of being central planners. He does so from a distinctively Misesian perspective — or, at least, that is his intention. But, he mistakes Mises’ definition of socialism as a definition of central planning, where the former suggests the collectivization of the means of production
Someone left a comment on one of the articles making the claim that the United States is no longer a manufacturing economy, having transitioned to a service sector oriented economy. The statement is half right. While the U.S.’ service sector has grown, and this is not a bad thing, so has the manufacturing sector. Here is a graph showing an
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.